


Looking For A Bluer Sky

by princesscas



Category: Dragon Quest XI
Genre: Dragon Quest XI Act III Spoilers, Fix-It of Sorts, Hero | Luminary is Named Eleven | El (Dragon Quest XI), M/M, Memory Loss, Platonic Relationships, Redemption, a lot of Jasper & Mia, look Jasper deserves love okay, the seer shows up for two seconds, they're my favorites can you tell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:27:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26184184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princesscas/pseuds/princesscas
Summary: It was never a good idea to mess with time, but it seemed a lot more appealing when El was in the picture. But it's just Mordegon. They can handle it, right?(everyone but El remembers AU!)
Relationships: Camus | Erik & Veronica, Camus | Erik/Hero | Luminary (Dragon Quest XI), Homer | Jasper & Maya | Mia (Dragon Quest XI)
Comments: 107
Kudos: 52





	1. Rewind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the gang begins act III, and one teensy tiny little detail thwarts them ...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Return of the Princess~
> 
> September already, huh? that's odd. anyway, here's my latest project! hope you enjoy!
> 
> I've seen lots of interpretations of act 3's memory situation, but I've never seen an AU where El doesn't remember, but everyone else in the party does! so here it is. I tried so hard not to put in Luminerik, but I just love these two too much.
> 
> I am not joking about the spoilers. this will eventually become the ENTIRE plot of act 3 (but my way so it's a little more fun) (I hope)

“See you on the other side!”

El turns around, and the Sword of Light that they all made together plunges through the air towards the serene, undisturbed pearly orb that they’re about to disturb.

To be honest, Erik doesn’t expect to see El on the other side at all. What he expects is to be met with a blinding flash of light, which will envelop them all, and then El will be gone, and then Erik will sink to the floor and collapse and cry until he doesn’t have any more tears left. Maybe after that he’ll try to get his life together. Take Mia to the Academie. Help with Jade’s plan to improve Downtown Heliodor. Do what he can to atone for whatever sins he must have committed to deserve this kind of punishment.

But instead he’s pitched backwards, memories flashing before his eyes - memories of his own life. Maybe the Seer put in a good word for him, wherever he is.

It’s all Mia, Mia, and Mia.

It was a terrible idea to leave her, but this time he’s going to get it right. There has to be some way to get her back that doesn’t involve damaging a third of the population of Sniflheim. Not to mention the fact that she was used as a vessel for an evil power that essentially destroyed Erdrea.

No, it wasn’t Mia who did that. That was Gyldygga.

A few memories of Derk and Ruby, almost nothing in prison, and then a cascade of El. Almost as much El as there had been Mia. A smattering of other people are there too, but they almost always appear alongside El (admittedly Veronica shows up alone in fights a few times).

Escaping Heliodor, finding the twins in Hotto, Faris thinking he could hit on El, they’re brief, but they’re all there. Jasper in Gondolia, the tournament, losing him (and Jade, he supposes) in Dundrasil and panicking … Erik lets his mind wash over. Why is it even necessary to show him this stuff? He knows it perfectly well, seeing as how it’s his own memories.

The fake Frysabel inside the city, the one he knew wasn’t real because she didn’t recognize him, the one he covered for because he was too much of a coward to call out … 

Seriously, though, it’s kind of strange. Maybe whatever time force is going on is trying to find the right place to drop him off. Is he supposed to make some kind of signal when they get there? Will he get off at the same place as everyone else?

As if on cue, the memories come to a screeching halt, and he’s thrown forwards onto the ground. Not the best entrance he’s ever made. Erik brushes the dust off of his corsair coat and glances around, searching the area around him. It looks like the entranceway to Arboria.

There’s nobody else, and his heart drops. Did they not make it … ?

“Oh,  _ darling! _ ”

Erik hates that term, and he sometimes (okay, more than sometimes) hates that voice, but right now, it’s the most perfect and wonderful thing he’s ever heard. Even Sylv has their place, and now is as good a time as any for a spirit like theirs.

“Sylv? You made it too?” Erik already knows the answer to the question, but he can’t help wanting to know if this is even real.

Somewhere behind Sylv, Jade appears, standing gracefully instead of faceplanting in the grass. Maybe there’s something to be said for her royal upbringing. She always did have more dignity than the rest of the party. Rab’s there too, next to her, and - wait, is Erik the only one who ate dirt when he arrived??? That’s not fair.

Serena rushes up from behind him, wordlessly throwing her arms around him and beaming widely into his shoulder. Her hair is long again, reaching below her shoulders, so they got the time frame right, too. Erik’s pretty sure her tears are going to soak his coat, and finds himself thankful that he’s not wearing his green tunic at the moment. It would be a little odd walking around with one wet shoulder.

Soon the entire group joins in, and everyone’s leaning on each other, and everyone’s crying, and no one’s sure how long they’re going to stay there. Maybe forever.

Until Erik notices one glaring absence. Three, actually, but two of them were expected.

“Where’s El?” he asks, glancing around worriedly.

Serena frowns slightly, which Erik has learned is her thinking face. “Well, where was he the first time we were here?”

“The cathedral? Talking with Father Benedictus?” suggests Jade, and everyone follows her up the pristine cream-colored stairs that Erik remembers the scorched, burning, ruined echo of all too vividly.

Nobody talks about it, but he’s pretty sure that’s what they all see when they walk up the steps.

It has to be the worst for Serena, though, especially since they haven’t found Veronica yet. What if she isn’t there and they’ve wasted their time and blew their only shot and now they’re stuck in this … whatever it is, without Hendrik or El or Veronica? None of them could stand that, but Serena would probably blame herself for it. Erik would blame himself too. He was the one who let El through in the Tower of Lost Time, but to be fair, it had been a terrible idea to put Erik in a prominent position. He could never say no to El, hadn’t they learned that yet?

Erik’s train of thought is cut off completely when the open door of the cathedral displays Veronica and El, both there with that holy priest dude he’s already forgotten the name of. That part doesn’t really matter, though.

What matters is that they’re both here, and they’re safe.

They made it, too.

Serena runs in faster than Erik knew she was capable of, and pulls her twin into a hug in what is probably the most forceful gesture she has ever exhibited. She falls on her knees, her dress skidding against the floor and probably collecting age-old holy dirt, but she doesn’t seem to care. Veronica yelps in surprise, but hugs her sister back just as tightly.

Erik grins. He knows the pain of losing a sister. And he knows how fantastic it feels to hug them again, when you thought you’d never get the chance. Their reunion is under slightly better circumstances, though, considering how Serena isn’t about to essentially sacrifice herself to the dark power in her sister because she doesn’t want to kill said sister.

Did Erik mention how fucked up his life is? Because it’s pretty fucked up.

And El … El, in all his soft, perfect, adorable glory, standing right there next to them.

Who can blame Erik for rushing just as fast to El’s side, wrapping his arms around him, pressing his lips into El’s until they’re both gasping for breath, until El has somehow become pinned against the wall behind him and his leg has hooked up around Erik’s hips, until he’s not even sure where they are or what they’re doing there anymore?

Not the rest of the party, that’s for sure. There’s a wolf-whistle that’s probably from Sylv. Serena gives them one of her signature soft smiles in the half-second she tears her eyes away from Veronica (thankfully the latter has her back turned so she can’t see them).

Erik pulls away and brushes some of El’s hair out of his eyes, grinning more brightly than he has in what feels like years.

A stark contrast to El’s stunned expression, wide-eyed, his lips parted as if he’s about to say something but has thought better of it.

Fucking  _ hell, _ Erik thought he got rid of that expression.

“El? What’s up? Something wrong?”

He draws in a deep breath. “No, it’s fine, just … I, um, didn’t expect that. Not in a bad way-! I liked it, but - why did you do that?” El stares fixedly at the ground, his eyes occasionally moving upwards as if they’re going to stray to meet Erik’s. They never do make it all the way up.

He playfully flicks away one of El’s strands of hair, hanging loosely in front of his face, which does no good, seeing as how it flops right back momentarily. “I like you. Thought you knew that already.”

“How would I know? You haven’t told me before … but I like you too.” El smiles slightly at the ground, a blush taking over his face. He’s so cute like that. Every single time, he starts blushing again, like he’s never said it before. It takes a few seconds for the first part to sink in.

“Uh, I’ve told you, like, a hundred times … “

El’s eyes snap up, his eyebrows flying up his forehead and staying there. “You have?”

“You have?” Veronica echoes, one hand planted on her hip, the other holding her staff at a somewhat threatening angle. She’s never been such a welcome sight. Erik probably would have thrown something at her if it weren’t for the fact that the last place he saw her was the illusion of her dead body propped up against a tree in the Grove of Repose, not even a mile away from here. She also wasn’t present when Erik regained his memory and recalled that he was, in fact, in love with El, so she can be forgiven for that little comment.

Jade rolls her eyes, scoffing at El’s expression, and probably at least in part at Erik’s explanation. 

“Don’t ye remember, laddie?” asks Rab urgently, on a much more serious note than Jade’s.

El stares blankly at his grandfather, and then bites his lip.

“No,” Erik answers for him. “We just went to Sniflheim to get the Blue Orb, right?”

“Yes … ? Didn’t we?” El’s eyes are filled with a familiar concern, one that Erik hates, but unfortunately has been the cause of too many times for his liking.

Serena opens her mouth, but Erik cuts her off before she can say anything. “Yeah, and we’re going to Yggdrasil next,  _ right, Serena? _ ” He offers the most discreet glare that he can, and she looks momentarily confused and hurt, but Erik can see the precise time at which she catches on. It doesn’t take long.

“Right. That sounds like a wonderful plan!” she says, shooting Sylv a look, who in turn winks at Jade, who in turn nudges Rab, and then they’re all on board. “We’ll go into the First Forest tomorrow. I think we could all use a rest before we venture up to the World Tree. I’m rather tired after all that traveling.”

They all know that she means more than the journey through the Snaerfelt that they apparently just took.

This is getting weird. Didn’t the Timekeeper say that El was the only one going back? Well, Erik isn’t about to complain. It might even be a good thing. If only El knew, they would have the ideal scenario. They can still do it, though. It’ll just be … different from how they imagined.

“That sounds good,” El mumbles, and Erik realizes with a start that he just kissed an El who has no idea that they’re dating. Oh. Wait, they aren’t dating, but El just confessed to him, and he did too, he supposes, so are they … ?

That’s a conversation for another time.

Erik is the last one out of the cathedral, making sure nobody is following them. Jasper’s there, somewhere just out of reach, and the fact that Erik can’t find him even when he’s looking is driving him up the wall. He’s a thief, dammit, a master of disguises and shit like that, shouldn’t he be able to spot a knight of Heliodor following them?

Maybe Jasper really was the better of the pair.

Thinking back on it, Hendrik was never the one who inflicted much damage. The only thing he did was chase them at the Door of Departure back at the Emerald Coast, and Jade said that he ran into them in Dundrasil. There was the Sniflheim incident, but at that point, he’d just up and left. Only one of the knights was ever on the mark.

Erik scowls. If only the trio of nuisances had let El kill Jasper back in Gondolia.  _ He _ had been fully on board with that plan.

Still, he and El wouldn’t have lived through Gondolia if it wasn’t for those three, so he let it slide.

He catches up with the rest of the party at the inn, and Serena hands him a key, which according to its tag is for the second room. She keeps a key for herself, gives the third one to Rab, and fumbles over the last.

The room she ordered for Hendrik.

“I suppose we don’t need a fourth room,” she says quickly, handing the key back over, to the clear confusion of the innkeeper, but nobody asks why she ordered them the extra. Veronica looks highly suspicious, but at least she has the common sense not to talk about it here. Serena busies herself pocketing the extra gold that the innkeeper refunds.

Erik climbs up the marble stairs (why is everything in this town made of marble? Is that the chosen stone of the goddess or something?) leading to the room, throwing himself facefirst onto the bed without removing any of his clothing, not even his boots, which aren’t very dirty. Did time travel cleanse them?

El slams the door behind him, his eyes ablaze with a fire that Erik hasn’t seen since they found out about Veronica’s death. Well, Veronica’s alive now, so … the last time he saw that this time around was maybe in Gondolia? He’s not sure.

“What is going on.” El’s voice is a low, gravelly growl, and he stares down Erik with that blue fire in his eyes, burning away all the sweetness in them.

Actually, that’s really hot, but again, another time.

“Nothing’s going on, we’re fine.”

“Don’t lie to me. I know you’re keeping something from me, and … I just want to know what it is,” he says, his voice becoming much quieter and softer at the end, his eyes regaining their usual kind, caring shine.

Erik’s hand shoots up to tangle in his blue spikes, and he knows that El will recognize the nervous habit, but he can’t help it. “You lost your memory of … stuff that happened. But you’re fine. Everything’s fine. We’re going to do this.” He stands up and fidgets with the straps of his boots, just to have something to do, slipping them off and straightening them at the side of the bed like it’s an excuse for not wanting to think.

“I know I’m forgetting,” he mumbles. “Where did I get this sword? How did we get so strong all of a sudden?” His face flushes red, and his voice even softer. “Why did you kiss me?” He buries his face in his hands, like it’s something to be ashamed of.

“I kissed you ‘cause I wanted to.” Erik cautiously lowers himself onto the bed, next to El, and lets his hand slip into El’s, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I can’t answer those other questions yet.”

“I’m sorry,” El whispers, his gaze dropping to the floor.

“It’s not your fault,” murmurs Erik in response, wrapping his arms around El as softly as he can, although he’s not that good at soft stuff. At least he’s trying. “It’s not your fault.”

El curls up in his arms, and doesn’t leave for the entire night. They fall asleep like that, and in the morning, that’s how they wake up. El doesn’t know that, though, because Erik wakes up before him and carefully disentangles from him. It’s probably best not to overwhelm him.

Erik recalls the times that El did the same for him, when he couldn’t sleep, and wonders if he’ll ever come close to repaying the debt that he owes to not just the Luminary, but to El.

***

Everyone with any wisdom is asleep in the tent. Fortunately for Erik, he’s not the only one who doesn’t fit into that category.

“Shall we go over the plan again?” Serena fidgets with the hem of her sleeve, not meeting anyone’s eye, and Erik knows exactly why she’s nervous. “It’s rather complicated, I suppose, and we mustn’t make any mistakes … “

“You can say that again. I still don’t think this is a good idea. You  _ do _ recall what might happen?” Veronica snarls, her hands balling into fists in her dress. They fall apart again momentarily, and she lets out a small, defeated sigh that Erik one hundred percent empathizes with. For once, she’s on the same page as him, at least to some degree.

“Yes, that’s why I’m making sure we know what to do,” Serena replies calmly, removing the tie at the end of Veronica’s left braid and beginning to undo the plait she had twisted it into earlier that morning, before they reached the end of the First Forest.

“It’s okay, I’ve got it,” El reassures them both, and probably himself as well, judging by the way his next inhale isn’t completely confident, and his voice wavers as he starts reciting the plan. “If anyone comes, I can deflect spells with that … sword,” he says, the word dripping with distaste. “And I’ll make sure that we’re all okay.”

Erik doesn’t recall the last part being part of the plan, but it certainly reflects his own thoughts. Maybe El remembers more than he thinks.

“I suppose I should be going to sleep,” Serena muses, half to herself. “It just doesn’t feel right.”

Veronica snorts. “Oh, come on. These two probably want to be left alone.” She jerks her head towards Erik and El, as if they aren’t right there, as if they can't hear her perfectly clearly. “Besides, you need to rest. It’s not like you to be so worried.” She tugs on her sister’s hand, giving an exaggerated wave goodbye to Erik and El as they both slip into the tent. Erik considers flipping her off, but thinks better of it. If everything goes to shit again, this might be the last thing Veronica remembers of him.

To be fair, that would have been a pretty accurate depiction of their relationship, but Erik isn’t willing to leave things like that, not when Veronica’s death tore him up almost as badly as seeing Mia trapped in the golden shell of a monster. He’s not quite ready to admit that to anyone yet, maybe not even himself, but he knows that deep down he does have a certain fondness for her.

El stares at the Sword of Shadows with something almost like hatred in his eyes, and doesn’t say a word, instead just sitting there silently until he finally falls asleep, his head resting on Erik’s shoulder.

Another tiny sliver of his debt paid, Erik thinks, although he knows he’d stay with El even if there wasn’t any debt or Seer-inflicted words of wisdom connecting them.

When Sylv leaves the tent the next morning, Erik and El are still sitting by the now-dead fire that’s barely hanging on to the last embers of its previous glory.

“Wake up, darlings,” they sing, chuckling to themself. “Yggdrasil’s waiting for us!”

Erik doesn’t have time to separate from El before they both wake up, but El doesn’t really seem to mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heh.
> 
> honestly I've had this idea for a long time, but it's finally come to life!
> 
> this is going to be a Tuesday fic! hopefully I can post around 9AM my time (pacific)


	2. Replay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the team start to make up for their past mistakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my goal is to convert everyone reading this into Jasper lovers
> 
> on an unrelated note, I am super excited today because!!! the new Hyrule Warriors game was announced!!! and I will get to play as Revali!!! (sorry to all the non-zelda people here, but Legend of Zelda owns my heart)
> 
> I'd apologize, except I wouldn't mean it. just ... here.

The rainbow path is just as beautiful as Erik remembers, and it’s every bit as terrifying to walk along it, knowing that the only thing between him and plummeting through the clouds to the world below is the magic of the orbs.

He doesn’t really trust the orbs.

It would be a beautiful fate, though, much more interesting than anything he’d imagined for himself when he was locked in that cell in Heliodor, or when he was younger, lost in the Snaerfelt with nothing but Mia and his own wits. He shouldn’t remember those days, but he does, even though the Vikings told him he was only five. How his world has changed since then.

Erik checks behind him, furiously watching for Jasper, but nothing’s there. The fact that Jasper has managed to hide this time around, even though Erik has been looking for him in every corner, searching for the gleam of his golden eyes, the swish of his long hair, the shimmering edge of his silver and gold armor, is really getting on his nerves. He thought he was good at this stuff, but apparently Jasper is better.

El gazes in wonder as they disembark at Yggdrasil. The branches are covered in green, the most lush green that Erik has ever seen. One trip didn’t do this place justice, especially when that trip was marred by the destruction of Erdrea.

Staring at the leaves glittering on the branches, Erik wonders what the chances are that if he pulled off a leaf it would be Jasper’s. He thinks better of it, because there’s a far larger chance that it could be someone else’s, even one of theirs, and he isn’t willing to risk that.

He only half-turns when El approaches the Heart of Yggdrasil to reach for the Sword of Light. The other half of him is resuming his usual Jasper-searching. This time, he knows he can’t miss him. He’s going to be there, right there, at the moss-covered entrance tunnel, any second now, and Erik is going to rip him to shreds. Or - let El do it, because he’s going to have that weird dark aura thing that prevents their blows from landing, and the Sword that El has is going to make it fall so that Erik can rip Jasper to shreds. Yeah, that works.

El reaches out, and Erik turns all the way around, and there he is.

Jasper, his hand outstretched, with that same darkness building that Erik’s already become _very_ familiar with in Gondolia. The scar on his chest almost twists at the thought, and Erik wonders if he would survive, were he to take another shot of that darkness.

Then he wonders if he cares.

He lets out a feral growl that he can’t identify the source of, and El whips around in time to diffuse the rapidly advancing dark magic.

Jasper takes a step back. “How in the - “ he mutters to himself, but quickly regains composure. “No matter.”

Without warning, a wave of the darkness bursts out of the orb in his hand, and briefly Erik wonders if it’s some kind of twisted addition to the set, or if it was made from one of the orbs that they left at the base of the rainbow path. If it was the Red Orb, he is going to kill Jasper for that fact alone. Any of the others are fine, but that one’s _his,_ and he won’t let Jasper have that one last piece of him. He’s already taken everything else.

The scar writhes, as if it recognizes its source, even though El is able to rid the air of the magic once again.

“My powers … repelled? B- How?” 

Erik takes an unreasonable amount of pride at the note of panic in Jasper’s voice.

“Wait - that sword … Very impressive. But it will take more than a showy new weapon to defeat _me_ ,” sneers Jasper, even though he’s apparently caught on and should therefore be more intimidated. Wait, how could he have caught on? Is it possible that he remembers too? If Veronica does … and she died … 

Erik doesn’t have time to finish the thought before Jasper glows purple again, and he almost thinks that he’s going to demon-ify, but he doesn’t, and instead the purple glow just fades around him, softening the sharp edges cut by his figure.

The Sword of Shadows glows with the same purple flame as his protective barrier.

Jasper falls too easily to El’s sword. It’s ironic that the thing that destroys Jasper is the power of his own overlord. Although he’s really been letting himself be destroyed all this time, while the darkness slowly poisons him. Before he died at the Palace of Malice, he said that he had spent eighteen years - half of his lifetime - with that darkness. Erik can barely imagine how much shit that must have the power to evoke, how it could take advantage of your flaws.

He desperately wants to hate Jasper for everything he’s done in the last eighteen years, but he can’t, not when Mia fell to it too.

So they watch as the orb in Jasper’s hand shatters, and the darkness finally relinquishes its hold on him, but at a high cost.

And like the devoted servant he is, he expends the last of his power with one last attempt on their lives, one last magical darkness that they don’t fall to, but that the Sword does.

After that, he’s gone. The darkness is draining him of his energy, and they’re just sitting there watching.

Under normal circumstances, Erik would have been fine with that. He would have gladly watched Jasper die. Honestly, that man had been the source of so much of everything that had made his life go to shit that it might have even been satisfying.

But Hendrik and the asshole king - no, Jade’s father, the _possessed_ king, no matter how much Erik hates him - are there, and he can see the look in the former’s eye as he stares at Jasper, and it’s honestly terrifying how much it reminds him of the way El looked at him in Gondolia.

Wait. Stop. Hold the fuck up. That can’t be right. That’s … impossible … 

“What happened here?” Hendrik asks, but his expression betrays him as he looks upon the party members with something almost akin to fondness, and guilt when it comes to Veronica.

Rab quickly hides his grin beneath his moustache before King Carnelian can notice. “Yer pal showed his true colors, that’s what happened! He’s no servant of Heliodor - he’s sold his soul to the forces of evil!” _Just like you,_ Erik thinks, glaring at Carnelian.

“Curse you,” growls Jasper from the ground. He has no right to be alive right now, but maybe he’s just too determined to die.

“So this is how you repay your king?” Hendrik spits. “With treachery?”

By some miracle, or maybe just out of sheer spite, Jasper manages to make his way over to the king, whispering a plea for help. Erik would have paid good money to see this a while ago, but now, it sickens him. Why can’t they just kill Carnelian here and now? The whole waiting thing is making him uneasy, and so is Jasper’s refusal to die.

Erik catches the word ‘master’ in his words, and before he can notice anything else, Carnelian’s blade is out.

This is all wrong.

Sweet Yggdrasil, this is all wrong.

He asks himself one thing: who does he hate more? It’s not a decision at all, really.

The king’s sword doesn’t ever reach its target, blocked by two knives and one blue-haired thief that hates the fuck out of royalty. Except El. And Jade. And Frysabel. And he doesn’t _hate_ Faris, just has no respect for him … okay, so maybe he just hates this one in particular.

“You’re lucky my sister likes you,” he grumbles to Jasper as he shoves the king off, and he doubts that Jasper even hears it, but the faintest shadow of a gleam in his golden eyes is telling enough.

His reaction confirms Erik’s suspicions. They aren't the only ones who remember.

Carnelian stares at him. Serena stares at him. El stares at him. Veronica stares at him. Strangely enough, the only person who seems to understand his motives is Jasper. The other four who were around when they fought Gyldygga aren’t far behind. Jade’s probably closest.

“I am grateful to you, Hendrik,” Carnelian continues, turning away from Erik and acting as though he isn’t even there. Old habits must die hard. He probably only sees the criminal who stole his precious orb. Not the savior of the Luminary (although Erik doesn’t think he deserves that title). “If you had not brought me here, I may never have learned the truth.”

He knew. Oh, he knew. Erik almost wants to turn his still-exposed knives on the king, but thinks better of it, if only for Jade’s and Hendrik’s sakes. Maybe Rab’s, too.

“I was merely doing my duty, sire,” says Hendrik. “I only wish he had been unmasked sooner.”

Carnelian clears his throat. “It seems I owe you an apology. I have visited a grave injustice upon you. It was Jasper who spoke of the Darkspawn. Who poisoned me against you. I see now that all this was merely part of his wicked scheme. Now, you must claim the Sword of Light! The sacred power of Yggdrasil is your birthright! Take it! It is long past time … “

El turns, and Erik wants so badly to tell him that it’s a bad idea, that he should just step away, that he should do something about the fact that the king is possessed by Mordegon, or for that matter that Jasper is almost dead. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, Erik can’t be sure what he feels about the situation, Serena deals with the latter issue at Hendrik’s request, healing him enough so that he isn’t on the verge of death, but leaving him unable to potentially fight them. The darkness has bled out of him, but she doesn’t quite trust him yet, and rightly so in Erik’s opinion. Nobody else seems to trust him either.

But El takes the sword without incident.

Erik nearly screams in frustration as he holds the sword out to Carnelian to examine, but he holds back. Something else, some kind of darkness gathering on the ground, seems to have the same idea as him, though, and prevents him from touching the sword.

It’s not quite the same kind of darkness as Mordegon’s, and Erik wonders where it comes from, but the thought is fleeting.

Carnelian recovers from the shock of whatever it was quickly, with all the composure of one who was raised for royal duties. Which he probably was. Yeah, he definitely was.

“Now that we have the Sword, let us return to Heliodor. We must celebrate your triumph!” the king exclaims, but Erik can see through his shitty act so easily that he wonders why he never did before. He’s looking at the Sword with so much envy and desire that it’s obvious.

Rab frowns. “Wait - ye’re invitin’ us back to the castle?”

Carnelian offers his own dignified frown, so that their expressions match near perfectly. “But of course, Lord Robert. You are the defenders of Yggdrasil. The unmaskers of the traitor Jasper. Your great deeds deserve recognition,” he says almost mockingly. “Well, Luminary? I trust that you will take me up on my invitation?”

El doesn’t say anything in response, only offering a glare that Erik echoes, albeit much more forcefully.

“We will go ahead and begin the preparations.” Carnelian scowls at El, who apparently did something wrong by not acknowledging him. “We look forward to _welcoming_ you in Heliodor.”

Rab’s eyes narrow, and Erik can’t help but second the motion.

He doesn't want to know what ‘welcoming’ entails, but he has a bad feeling they’re going to find out whether they like it or not.

“If I may, sire … “ Hendrik trails off, left speechless for what Erik suspects is the first time in a long time. “I would like to stay here. I- I believe I should remain with Jasper while he recovers.”

Carnelian huffs, but leaves without protest. Where he’s going, Erik has no idea, but he’s gone, so at least that issue is dealt with. If he’d stayed much longer, Erik might have given in to the barely contained rage and desire to tear him apart. Hopefully that’s only because he knows the king is Mordegon. Hopefully. He’s not completely sure.

“Fool,” Jasper mutters. “You do remember that I betrayed you?”

Hendrik kneels by his side and smiles (actually _smiles,_ Erik didn’t know he was capable of that). “How could I forget?” he replies, his voice just as soft.

Veronica rolls her eyes, dragging Serena away through the tunnel back out to the branches of Yggdrasil despite her mumbled protests that he needs more healing, which Rab takes charge of. She shoots Erik a wink and gives an exaggerated glance in Jasper’s direction, and Erik picks up on her not-so-subtle cue. Veronica’s never been a master of subtlety. Pretty much the exact opposite, actually. But still, nobody else notices, so maybe she’s improving.

Erik draws in a deep breath, takes hold of El’s hand, and walks away from Jasper. He’s never been more tempted to kill someone in his life - he’s almost certain he’s reached new capabilities of hatred from Mia’s Sentinel-ism alone - but for once, he’s not going to.

Sylv figures it out from there, and skips out with Jade and Rab momentarily.

So here they are, waiting on Yggdrasil’s branches for the two most annoying knights in existence to finally wrap up their reunion (or whatever it is).

Veronica snorts, and Erik temporarily forgets how to breathe. He thought he’d never hear that sound again. He also thought he’d never hear it aimed at someone other than him, but apparently she feels like defying all of his expectations today, and he’s okay with that. They’re all okay with that, judging by the way everyone else seems to have the same reaction.

“Those two always were quite the combination,” says Jade, smirking. “You’d think they would have had it figured out by now. I suppose it’s better late than never.”

Veronica wrinkles her nose and swipes her hand through the air, as if she’s swatting away an annoyance none of them can see. “Speak for yourself. Never’s fine by me.”

Sylv gives a scandalized gasp at Veronica’s answer. “But, honey, they even wrote letters when they were apart! So _romantic …_ “

“I heard rumors,” Erik admits. “Didn’t believe them, but I guess sometimes you just gotta pine after your sworn enemy for eighteen years.”

“Ah, youth,” Rab adds wistfully, and that’s enough for everyone to burst out laughing, even Serena, the angel she is.

“Wait - Sylv, how did you know about the letters?” asks El, his forehead creasing in that way that makes Erik want to press his fingers against it to smooth them away.

Shit.

They shrug casually, keeping impressively calm. “I knew Hendrik back in the day. It was a looong time ago, so he doesn’t really talk about it.”

“Huh. Okay,” El says, clearly suspicious, but he drops it. “And, Erik? Why’d you save Jasper? He tried to kill you … a lot.”

“I know,” Erik grumbles. “I just … I thought he didn’t deserve to die,” he responds quickly, at normal volume. As soon as the words leave his mouth, he realizes that (unfortunately) they’re true. Jasper didn’t deserve to die. He hates that he believes that.

Jade swallows. “Thank you. I know that he’s done bad things, but … ” She doesn’t meet his eyes, instead staring at the moss covering Yggdrasil’s branches at her feet, but Erik gets the message without her expression or any further elaboration. He can imagine the end to her sentence well enough on his own.

Veronica frowns impatiently and sneaks through the tunnel, peeking through to the other side. “Right, let’s get a move on,” she declares all too brightly as she comes back out. “These two dunderheads can find their own way out.”

“Have fun,” Jade yells, grinning wildly at whatever response she receives that Erik (thankfully) doesn’t hear.

El rolls his eyes before grabbing Erik’s hand and casting Zoom, taking them to the countryside in Heliodor rather than the city proper.

Glancing down at their intertwined fingers, Erik smirks. “Is _that_ how this is gonna go.” His tone is flat, and it’s not a question, not really. In truth, he likes the contact. El used to do that all the time once Erik regained his memory. He said it helped with the energy he needed to cast the spell. Erik knew it was a lie, but never called him out on it.

El doesn’t answer, angling his face away in an attempt to hide the rapidly spreading blush.

Against his better judgement, Erik grins. Some things don’t come from memory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look, if the party remembered the whole scene where Jasper dies in act 2 they would NOT have let him die
> 
> Hendrik, about Jasper: oh dear, oh dear. gorgeous.  
> Jasper, about Hendrik: you fucking donkey.
> 
> no, there is not Hendrik/Jasper in here, I swear, it’s just Sylv and Jade making assumptions, they could be having a completely platonic discussion? or healing? yep, that’s probably it. nothing romantic going on in there. not in front of the heart of Yggdrasil. Jasper has Erdrea’s worst sense of time and place.
> 
> warning: fav and Eris have Done Things to the comments below and there are mild Twilight Princess spoilers now??? somebody save me from these two fools


	3. Counting The Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which ... fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alternate chapter title: Remix
> 
> please tell me I'm not the only one who is physically pained by sunlight now ... I'd rather just stay in my room sobbing to flight range music and eating dry cereal out of a wooden bowl ...
> 
> no thoughts. head empty.
> 
> here ya go <3

The king wasn’t lying when he said it would be ‘a banquet worthy of our savior.’ He’s lying about everything else, but not that, at least. Apparently Mordegon knows how to party. 

Erik can’t help but wonder if the sentinels had their own parties up at the Palace of Malice, and if Mia was there, and if that was part of the reason she seemed to like her fellow sentinels so much … 

Jasper’s gone, which is good for Erik’s sanity. Healing or whatever. Keeping him in Heliodor Castle is a horrible idea, though, considering how the king was the one who tried to kill him. Erik can’t wait to get out so he can’t be blamed for when that murder inevitably happens.

Erik leaves El in the room with the long table still laden with a considerable amount of Heliodor’s finest dishes so he can talk to his adoptive family. If Rab and Jade are unhappy about that, they aren’t letting on. Erik’s having a slightly harder time concealing his jealousy. El assured him that he and Gemma were never a thing, but Erik isn’t comfortable with the number of looks the two of them are getting from the villagers of Cobblestone. It’s not that he doesn’t like Gemma, she’s nice and all, but El is his. Nobody else’s.

It still feels strange that El doesn’t remember anything of their relationship, but he does seem to want it still. Erik hasn’t brought it up, and he’s not planning to ask El about it anytime soon.

As if on cue, El pushes open the doors of the dining hall and makes his way to Erik’s side.

“Hey,” he says quietly, giving a soft and somewhat sleepy smile that makes Erik’s heart skip a beat.

Yesterday, he’d have done anything to see that smile again, but now, it feels almost inevitable. Like he was meant to see it. Like El had saved it up just for him. Like he didn’t need to do anything special for it.

All he had to do was be himself. That’s enough.

“You look pretty wiped out.” Erik gently threads his fingers through the ends of El’s hair, which is somewhat tangled, and getting long. It just tickles the tops of his shoulders, so that it can be tied up in a ponytail that isn’t just a little bunch of hair at the base of his neck.

He shrugs one shoulder, leaving the other down so that Erik’s hands keep running through his hair. _Greedy,_ Erik thinks, but he doesn’t let the thought escape him. “It’s not easy, having a banquet thrown in your honor.” El pauses here to give an exaggerated fake yawn. “Everyone wants to talk to you and ask you to dance.”

Erik rolls his eyes. “Believe me, I know how you feel.”

“Right, I forgot you have a ton of admirers.”

“None of them stand a chance,” Erik murmurs, leaning in a little closer so the barest edges of his fingers can brush El’s chin, “not when you’re around.”

El lets out a bright, sparkling laugh, the kind that’s full of sunshine and bright bubbling happiness, the kind that Erik hasn’t heard at all since traveling back, and it makes his heart melt to hear that perfect sound again.

“You don’t mean that,” he whispers, but the ghost of a grin still shines through.

“But I do.” Erik licks his lips as subtly as he can, but judging by the way El bites his lip in response, he notices, which of course was his goal in the first place. Not that he’d tell that to anyone. El probably knows already without being told. Erik’s usually hard to read, but El makes it look easy.

“Prove it.” El’s eyes glimmer slightly darker, and Erik relishes the feeling of those eyes on him, and only him, the feeling of El’s undivided attention. Maybe he’s the greedy one.

“Let’s at least get to a room. I don’t think the Cobblestone people would like knowing that their precious Luminary was stolen away. They already don’t like me.”

A slightly hurt look crosses El’s face, and the guilt hits Erik immediately. “Please don’t say that. You’re perfect, and you’re the only one who doesn’t see it.” He presses a featherlight kiss to Erik’s cheek, and looks at him with so much love and admiration in his eyes that for once, he doesn’t miss the El he used to know.

“Guess you’ll just have to love me enough for the both of us.”

“If you insist.” El starts down the luxuriously carpeted hallway to the left, and Erik follows. The king has apparently set up some guest rooms for them. There’s five total, which is too many considering that Jade and Hendrik have their own rooms here, and that the twins always sleep in the same place. He probably didn’t account for Erik and El sharing a room, and neither did Erik until now, but El just keeps on surprising him.

As they walk along the hallway, his hand slips into El’s, and something he didn’t know was missing falls into place.

All of a sudden, Erik realizes that he feels something, something entirely new, something he hasn’t felt in … years, or maybe ever.

Content.

He’s content. El’s by his side, and that’s all that he wants, all he needs, and he wants to keep it that way forever. He’d do it this instant, if only El would say he wanted it.

Damn. If only Mia could see him now, falling head over heels for the Luminary, the most impressive treasure he’d ever gotten away with stealing. He wonders which one of them was truly the thief and which one of them was truly stolen. Maybe they both made an agreement to steal each other.

Erik doesn’t care how they got there, he’s just glad they did.

***

The door creaks in the night.

The noise is a tiny disturbance, just a little sound that should be inconsequential to anyone listening, but Erik isn’t the average Heliodorian royal guest, and he hears it perfectly clearly.

There aren’t many benefits to being aware of your surroundings even when you’re asleep, but sometimes, like when you’re asleep in the guest room of a castle with a possessed king who is out to kill the person you’re sleeping next to, it can come in handy.

Erik opens one eye and watches.

The Sword of Light is propped up against the wall, for lack of anywhere else to store it. Mordegon must have been planning this, then. The guest rooms that he has the key to. The rooms for each individual person so that El would be unguarded. The sword fully exposed and ready for the taking. Erik is the single flaw in his otherwise perfect plan.

The king leans down to pick up the sword, and Erik panics, and why isn’t he moving, _for fuck’s sake why isn’t he moving -_

The same red-tinged darkness erupts next to them, blocking him from taking the sword, and he growls in frustration and pain. Correction: Erik is the _second_ flaw in his otherwise perfect plan. El jolts awake, and Erik braces him with a hand around his shoulders. It doesn’t help as much as Erik wanted it to, but at least he tried.

“What is this?” rasps Carnelian, his voice losing its kingly quality and dissolving into something more dark, more powerful, more _Mordegon,_ his eyes glowing red, and holy shit that’s kinda scary - “Why can I not touch the sword? Surely it cannot be - “

El throws back the blankets and leaps out of the bed, hands on the Sword of Light and that blue fire burning in his eyes again, as if he remembers the last time those eyes stared at him that way, as if he remembers the darkness ripping them all apart, as if he remembers, and has never wanted more desperately to exact revenge.

It’s the most effective way he’s ever been awakened, and Erik’s briefly a little bit disappointed that it’s only a one-use tactic. That might have been useful on some of his lazier mornings.

Within seconds, Erik’s up too, because there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell he’s going to leave his partner to face this alone.

***

They find Carnelian in the throne room, because _of course they do,_ can Mordegon get any more predictable?

Everyone rushes into the immaculately decorated room, the same room they were congratulated in earlier by the same king, but somehow it feels … tainted now, like there’s something here that shouldn’t be (well, there is, but that’s not the point).

“Let the king go, and show us your true form, _fiend,_ ” Serena spits, and it’s the most angry thing that Erik’s ever heard come out of her mouth. Even the angel isn’t immune to loathing some people, he supposes.

Not-Carnelian laughs maniacally (why does every villain feel the need to do that?), and then the king crumples, falling like a marionette whose strings have been cut. There’s a certain grace and beauty in his fall, as if it’s in slow motion, even though it’s playing out in real time. There’s an entirely different kind of grace and beauty in the way that Mordegon steps forward.

His voice is low and dangerously soft, all sharp edges and thin precise lines.

The curved, knobbled wooden staff looks eerily familiar, and Erik can’t quite place where he’s seen it before, but the thought is wiped from his mind when thin, airy darkness sweeps over them all, suffocating them but keeping them alive. He tries to stop breathing, but it doesn’t work, and besides, the mist isn’t a breath thing as far as he can tell, so it wouldn’t have done any good.

El’s eyes narrow into slits, and then they’re fighting.

Mordegon casts some kind of strange incantation that causes two shadow copies of the staff to appear, and that definitely doesn’t help with Erik’s focus, or with the number of spells being flung at them. But against all of them, plus help from Hendrik? It was never a fair fight.

The butt of his staff clinks against the ground as he falls, and by the Goddess that’s the most satisfying sound Erik’s ever heard. The sound of the victory they never had, not truly. The sound of a new beginning that they fought for. The sound of success. The sound of the only thing standing between them and the life they wanted collapsing.

“I see,” Mordegon whispers as he stares at the ground by Erik’s feet. And - oh, there’s some more of that darkness that kept him from the Sword of Light. Is that Erik’s? Does he control it? He tries to command it to move, but it does nothing. Maybe it isn't his. Maybe it’s just an entity. Whatever it is, he’s almost grateful to it, but something tells him not to be. “So be it … but do not think that you are the only one who has defied the flow of time … “

And with that, he’s gone. The last Erik sees of him is the tip of the red gem of his staff, shimmering in one last burst of glory before fading away into the swirling darkness consuming his figure.

Carnelian cheers, and then the guards cheer, and then Erik laughs. He laughs and laughs. He’s pretty sure these are the same guards who tossed El into a prison cell, the same guards he recognizes from his own extensive stay. And he’s also probably at least a little delirious from the bleeding gash on his leg and the general dizziness that some of those spells evoked. Heh. _You better be sorry,_ he almost says, but holds back, instead settling for, “We really did it, huh?” and hoping that it conveys the tangled mess of relief, happiness, and strange unease he feels, which it can’t possibly begin to.

Serena nods and hums her confirmation, as if it’s the simplest thing in the world.

Veronica cries.

She sobs into her hands, tears streaming down her face as she balls her hands into fists and wipes them away with the edge of a lace handkerchief she apparently pulled out of her dress. Erik strongly suspects that it was formerly part of her skirt.

Serena glances down in concern. “What’s the matter, Veronica?”

“I don’t know,” she mumbles in between sniffles. “I’m just … glad to be here with all of you, I suppose.” She beams, and the little shimmering tears in her eyes only make it more radiant. “Thank you. For everything.”

Erik smirks at her. “You finally admitting that you love me?”

“Of course not, stupid.” Veronica gives a hiccuping laugh, and then glares at him, but her eyes are still wet and her smile is still bright, so it slightly lessens the threatening effect. Not to mention that she’s the height of a seven-year-old. If even.

“I believe I owe you both an additional apology.” Carnelian bows his head slightly, and Erik turns to face him, doing his best to wipe the automatic snarl off his lips that comes up whenever he sees the king’s face. He isn’t all that successful. 

El places a restraining hand on his elbow, and the warning message is clear. His fingers don’t leave, and that sends another message, but this one is for Carnelian. _Partners_ , it says, and El allows himself to lean into Erik in a rare instance of vulnerability. The moment Carnelian catches on is marked by one eyebrow moving upwards by about half a centimeter. Sure, he was trained for royal duties, but Erik was trained for thievery, so he notices the tiny slip in composure, and it brings him unreasonable amounts of satisfaction.

“I … remember very little of the last eighteen years … but I can say this. If it were not for the Luminary, I would still be in that monster’s grasp. I owe you both a great debt.”

“Both?” Erik asks skeptically, tilting his head to one side. “Last I checked, I’m no legendary hero.”

Carnelian (Erik should really start adding his title to that, but disrespecting royalty is just too much fun) offers him a wry smile. “Hendrik told me that it was you who broke the Luminary out of the dungeons when he was imprisoned. That you recognized the good in one I mistakenly labeled as a Darkspawn is a feat in itself.”

“You’re … thanking me for being a criminal? That’s a first. Uh, you’re welcome?”

The sky dims, like there is a blanket blocking out part of the light, and everything goes silent. A shame, because he was really looking forward to getting praised on his dungeon escape by the king who built said dungeons.

“I sense something awful. Something truly, truly evil … but where is it coming from?” Serena glances around the room, baffled, as if she’s expecting one of them to suddenly start cackling and attempt to murder them. In their experience, evils don’t hide for long around El.

“Your Highness! Please, you must come quickly! It’s Erdwin’s Lantern!”

Erik inwardly sighs as he follows the king. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. This better not be a prank. He will murder or seriously harm someone if it is. Probably Jasper. Just because.

The upper halls of Heliodor Castle are a maze, but one that Erik knows better than he should, so it’s not that difficult to keep up.

The windows are illuminated slightly red with what Erik sincerely hopes is the tint of the glass.

The sky is gray, like there’s been a storm brewing behind the illusion of a blue sky the entire time, and it’s just now choosing to release itself. Erik would have believed that it was truly a matter of the weather, were it not for the sinister glowing red orb hanging in the sky that he recognizes as Erdwin’s Lantern. A very different red orb than his (which he has no intentions of ever returning to Heliodor. That stupid gem is _his_ now, assholes).

It’s falling down to Erdrea again, and this time there’s nobody there to shatter the star as it plummets to the Celestial Sands.

A heavy, shock-induced silence coats them all as they stare at the rune-covered star that Erik is growing increasingly suspicious about the astral qualifications of.

 _Calasmos,_ it had read. The single useful thing Faris had done in his pathetic life, and they’d ignored it. _Why had they ignored it?_

What the fuck have they done?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can you honestly blame Mordegon??? all he was doing was trying to deliver the bonk to send Erik and El to horny jail. because they are overdue for a trip.
> 
> little bit of a short chapter, but I promise things will start to get a little bit more interesting next chapter, when we discover just what the fuck they have done! and when I refuse to write Watcher dialogue in all caps because it scares me!


	4. Shortsighted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which we meet some new (?) people in the sky!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! if you're here I appreciate you greatly
> 
> I've had a heck of a week, AGAIN, but I'm physically unable to stop writing this without pain. it is my pride and joy and I adore it.
> 
> me, to this fic: never gonna give you up, never gonna let you dooooown, never gonna run around and desert youuuuuuu

The shorter route to the Emerald Coast still takes the better part of two days to traverse. To be fair, the journey started a little bit late on the first day (by their standards), and they do arrive at the surprisingly scenic beaches fairly early in the day. The party hasn’t stopped to have any food yet, and the sun doesn’t beat down as cruelly as it could. Erik’s thankful for that. He’s never taken the heat very well, being a native Sniflheim resident and all.

The sky isn’t all gray anymore, but the thing that might be Erdwin’s Lantern is still there.

It’s a swirling mess of red-tinged darkness, and Erik realizes with a sinking feeling that he’s seen it before. The same force that kept Mordegon from the Sword of Light is now … fighting against the peace they just brought? This makes no sense.

Jade stares at it as though beguiled, her eyes not leaving the exploded star. “It’s enormous.”

“You can say that again,” Erik agrees. He takes off the eye patch covering his left eye and wonders why he even bothers to wear it when they’re not at sea. All it does is interfere with his depth perception. His vision doesn’t get much clearer without it, though. If anything, it’s only blurrier, because of the sudden blinding brightness in his newly uncovered eye. “What the heck  _ is _ it?”

Serena does that focusing thing, furrowing her brow and taking in a deep breath through her nose. Is it like his ability to sniff out treasure? Can she sniff out auras? “It’s giving off waves of … oh, I don’t know what, but whatever it is, it’s certainly not pleasant.”

Veronica scowls. “Well then it can’t be Erdwin’s Lantern, can it?” Her hands are smoking slightly with barely contained frustration. “We need to do something about it, whatever it is. But how do we even get up there?”

Erik remembers that question, and he remembers the answer too, but Cetacea is up in the sky doing Yggdrasil knows what and decidedly  _ not _ helping them out right now.

“I don’t know … “ El closes his eyes tightly, waiting for a count of three before opening them again. It’s still there when he does.

“Well, well, dear Luminary … it seems you are in quite the pickle.”

Everyone turns around, and immediately Veronica leaps into a ready position, her feet planted at about hip width to brace herself. Erik could let that pass as reasonable, since she’s always been on edge recently, but Sylv does it too, and Jade’s hands clench into fists. Looking around, Erik notices that he’s the only one who isn’t alarmed by the sight.

It’s just the Seer, why are they so worried?

“But - how?” whispers Jade incredulously, staring down the Seer like her life depends on it.

Have they ever met the Seer? Erik tries to think back, and wonders if he’s the only one who’s met him. But if that were the case, wouldn’t they be asking who the guy in front of them was?

“Mordegon! Ye foul beast,” Rab snarls, and Erik does a double take. Mordegon?

Strangely enough, the Seer doesn’t seem surprised at this discovery, only mildly amused. “You’re seeing me as Mordegon now, you say? How very intriguing. Well, no need to panic. I’m not Mordegon. It’s me,” he says, which does absolutely nothing to placate them. “The one you people call the Seer.”

Something almost like recognition flits across El’s expression, but it only lasts a second, and Erik convinces himself it’s only because he’s talked about the Seer before.

“Anyway, we can’t have you all on edge like this now, can we? One moment … “ The Seer taps his head and briefly vanishes in a cloud of pale mist. When he reappears, Jade’s fists fall apart, and Hendrik releases his iron grip on his broadsword’s handle, and Veronica flops down onto the sand in exhaustion or maybe relief, Erik can’t tell.

“Uh … you look the same.” Erik raises one eyebrow at the Seer, shooting him a skeptical glare.

He chuckles softly, as if reminiscing about some half-forgotten adventure. “My illusions never did work on you. I suppose that wouldn’t apply to your companions, although I did hope that the Luminary would have been gifted that same sight … “

El bristles at those words. “What sight?”

He waves a hand dismissively, the one not holding the staff. “Nothing to worry yourself about. As of right now, it may do you more harm than good to know. You will find out soon enough, I suspect. Now, where were we? Ah, yes. I was having a lovely vision of you all riding Cetacea to see the Watchers.”

Still seated on the sand, Veronica’s eyes go wide. “Excuse me?”

The Seer smiles slightly as he starts to glow with a faint blue light, shining from the edges of his figure and making his olive green robes appear more aquamarine. The light enhances the color of his hair too, only a few shades off of Erik’s. He’s never met anyone besides Mia with a hair color anything close to his, and he wonders if the Seer’s hair is just a wild coincidence.

“Let’s just say that the hallowed tones of the flute of legend will carry you to every corner of the land and leave it at that, shall we?”

And with that, he fades away, with one last glance in Erik’s direction and something that could have reasonably been a wink if Erik was inclined to call it that.

“I dunno how legendary it is, but we do have a flute,” Veronica remarks offhandedly, pulling the Calamus Flute out of … somewhere. The folds of her dress? Some kind of magically enchanted storage pocket? Why does she have the flute in the first place? “D’you think this could be the one?”

“Aye, lassie, that looks right,” Rab interrupts, before El can say anything to the contrary.

El takes the flute in trembling fingers and raises it to his lips.

The haunting notes echo against the cliffs in front of them.

The Mark of Light glows, but there’s no fishing-rod thing this time, and there’s no grand reveal of Cetacea: instead, she just kind of … swoops in, as if nothing has changed at all.

At least  _ someone  _ knows what they’re doing. Cetacea has a job, and she’s not about to let something as inconsequential as time travel stop her from doing it. Erik finds that very impressive, and wonders what his own purpose is. Taking care of El, maybe? Shit, that sounds weird, even in his head. He shoves the thought to the back of his mind.

“What’s that gormless grin for?” Veronica glares up at him. “Anyone would think you went flying around on whales for fun!” she says teasingly.

“Actually - “ Erik starts, but Jade’s boot meets his leg, and he stops with a wince before he can even get started on all the strange shit they did without her. That’s probably for the best, but was it really necessary to kick him? Again? At least this time she was exercising restraint.

The shorter twin shrugs. “Well, I’m game if you are.” She flings a single finger in Cetacea’s direction. “All aboard!” she announces, and Erik almost chokes at the tone of her voice, which is so damn annoying that he is reminded of why she is his least favorite creature in Erdrea. Besides maybe a select few monsters. The crabids along the beach are probably more so, but at least he can avoid them. “We’ve got a whale to catch, and some Watchers to meet!”

“Are you sure this is safe?” El asks covertly as Jade steps up onto Cetacea, using one of her wings as a ramp, and then offers her hand to help Serena.

“I’ve done weirder things and lived,” Erik points out, and some of the tension visibly releases in El’s shoulders.

“Okay,” says El shakily.

Erik instinctively slips his fingers into the spaces between El’s. “You can do this. I’ve got you, remember? You won’t fall. Or at least if you do, I’ll fall with you.”

“You’d fall with me anyway.”

“I would,” Erik begrudgingly admits. “Hell, I’d jump after you without a second thought.”

El laughs softly, and he follows Erik up onto Cetacea’s back, their hands entwined for the entire trip. Erik is struck by the realization that this is essentially the equivalent of El’s insistence on holding his hand when they’re Zooming, and he wonders if they both just never want to let go.

***

They disembark at the Watcher island, but it looks very different. Instead of being piled in the water in a heap in northern Dundrasil, the buildings are all standing and full of life. They’ve saved these people from destruction too, and Erik can’t help but grin when he sees the little town set up on the floating rocks. Nobody else seems too bothered about how said rocks float, so Erik employs his explanation for everything that isn’t quite logical: magic.

“Long ago, all was peace. All was harmony. Yggdrasil blessed us. Faithful servants of world tree.”

Veronica takes one look at the stout green Watcher with their tan robes and odd red scarf garment and shrieks, much to her sister’s dismay, and much to Erik’s delight.

“But shadow fell. Horror from above. Calasmos,” the Watcher continues in their metallic tones, as if nothing of note was happening. Actually, people probably freak out all the time when they see the Watchers, but Erik gets the distinct impression that they are the first humans here in … a while. “Now shadow falls again. Perhaps he returns. Perhaps … “

“Excuse me, but … who are you talking about?” Veronica’s voice wavers as she says it, and when Erik turns he notices that she’s once again plopped herself on the ground again instead of standing. The height difference isn’t very dramatic.

“Calasmos,” they repeat. “Dark One. Hater of life. Bringer of death.”

Veronica pales even further. Serena places a hand on her forehead worriedly.

The Watcher stalks toward El, with a determined look in their eye, their lips (if they could be called that) a completely flat horizontal line. “Luminary. Cetacea rider. No time. Come. Speak with Elder.”

El chews on his bottom lip and glances at Erik.

He gives a small, near imperceptible nod, but El sees.

El draws in a breath. “Okay, sure.”

By the time Serena manages to pull Veronica back to her feet, the Watcher has vanished.

“I had no idea this place was so large,” observes Jade wistfully, leaning down to brush her fingertips against one of the blue flowers growing along the path around the temple that might be hyacinth. She draws back her hand with something close to awe on her face. “It’s beautiful.”

“Humans? Not many humans here.” A purple Watcher offers their hand to Veronica, and she screams at the top of her lungs before mumbling an apology. The Watcher looks perplexed.

She huffs as she walks away. “Why do they keep surprising me like that?”

“Perhaps it is your current stature,” offers Hendrik as politely as he can. Erik knows why he’s being cautious: he personally told the knight many stories of the short mage with a shorter temper. “You are the closest among us to their height.”

“Well, that’s clearly not a problem for  _ you, _ ” she spits, glaring up at him.

Hendrik winces at her tone. This is probably the most threatened he’s felt in a while. Okay, so maybe Erik neglected to mention that his tales of Veronica’s liberal usage of fire spells to get out her frustration apply to him alone … 

“Maybe you could carry me,” she jokes.

Hendrik stares at her blankly for a moment before easily lifting her up by her waist and placing her on his shoulders. Her eyes widen to something close to the size of Drasilian shillings, and for a second Erik thinks she’s going to scream again, but instead she grins. Widely. She looks like she’s on top of the world, and considering that they’re currently on an island in the clouds and that she’s the tallest thing around, she kind of is.

“Who’s the short one  _ now _ , you stupid shitty pirate?”

Erik almost doubles over in laughter at the look on Hendrik’s face.

***

Veronica stands right up front to get a good look at the mural, El close behind her. The colors are no longer washed out by the water and the Dundrasilian sun, and the overall effect is striking. It’s not just a mural: it’s a story, one the Watchers weave impeccably. It takes no time at all for the entire party to be spellbound, held captive by the somewhat abstract designs of the mural and the strangely calming voice of the Watcher telling the story. The same one that led them here. Erik only knows because they have the same weird red collar thing.

The Watcher spins the story, and for what might be the first time in his life, Erik listens to historical accounts. Really listens. He tries to picture the four ancient heroes (which is admittedly made much easier by the statues in the plaza). 

Erdwin has spiky hair and a resigned expression. Serenica appears the youngest, and has the same fire in her eyes that Veronica sometimes does. Drustan is … buff. Hendrik-sized. That makes sense, since he founded Zwaardsrust and Erik thinks that’s where Hendrik is from (well,  _ was _ from). Morcant is the sorcerer guy with the hair at that in-between length where it doesn’t settle over his shoulders and instead curls on itself, almost like Sylv’s.

Morcant’s statue bothers him for some reason. It looks familiar. He can’t figure out why, but the thought is banished when Eegoltap cries out one word:  _ seedlings _ .

The Watchers start going apeshit. This must be pretty special, then.

“Seedlings of Yggdrasil. Seedlings know all.”

With that, the elder’s head droops back down, and they’re asleep once more.

A light goes off in their guide’s eyes, and the party rushes to follow the eager Watcher down to the Temple of Dawn.

Veronica stumbles on the floating platform, but Sylv gasps and lifts her across the gap. Serena lets out a sigh of relief and thanks them profusely.

“Oh, it was nothing! Where would we be without our pint-sized mage, ah?” they reply, beaming at Veronica.

Veronica leans over the edge and stares down at the clouds, trying to find Erdrea below them. “That would have been quite the fall,” she says, grimacing.

“Don’t I know it,” Erik mutters under his breath, smiling slightly despite himself. He’s always reminded of Healijah when he sees these glowing platforms. He knows Healijah was just the Seer in disguise, but he grew pretty fond of the little jailbreaking slime. Even now, he refuses to fight healslimes, instead just asking El to swap him for someone else.

“What are you talking about? Surely you haven't fallen from  _ this _ height? You wouldn’t be alive to tell the tale. It takes some powerful magic to overcome gravity, you know.”

Her words startle him, and he almost jumps when he realizes the platform has stopped and he is the last one there. Erik scrambles to get onto the rune-covered stairs and off the platform.

“Oh, uh, nothing. Just looks like a long fall. Yeah. What you were saying.”

She narrows her eyes at him, and her purple gaze is searching, like she knows that he’s lying and is determined to find out why. He isn’t about to tell her. He hasn’t told any of them the finer details of the ordeal that led to the loss of his memory. Most of them know about Indignus, because of their, uh,  _ run-in _ at the Fortress of Fear, and the whole death threats thing, but other than that, they’re all in the dark. None of them know just how deep his strange connection to the Seer really goes.

That was the only time he’s seen the Seer as anything other than the blue-haired sorcerer.

So when Veronica glares at him, he glares right back.

Like hell he’s losing this fight.

“Come along, now, we dinnae have time to be loiterin’,” chides Rab, and Erik’s never been more grateful to hear his voice. Sure, he fights with Veronica all the time, but something tells him not to tell anyone about that particular encounter. Maybe it’s that he doesn’t want their pity. Maybe it’s that he knows it would worry El, and he has plenty on his mind already. Maybe it’s something else entirely.

“‘Course,” Erik says, his confident strides more than a match for Veronica’s furious short steps.

“I  _ know _ you’re lying,” hisses Veronica as she practically runs to keep up with him. “Tell me what you’re really talking about, or I’ll make the others tell me. One of them must know.”

“No, actually, none of them do. And neither will you,” Erik snaps, and she recoils as if burned. Ironic, really, since she’s the one who’s burned him on most other occasions.

That’s the end of the conversation, or so he thinks. But as they stop at the doors to the temple and their guide unlocks the door and leads them in slowly, she pulls him aside for a moment.

“It’s not healthy to keep things to yourself. If you wanted to tell someone … well, I don’t think my opinion of you can sink any lower, so … “ she trails off, leaving one hand palm-up in the air and the suggestion hanging heavy in his mind as their Watcher guide gives them the guiding light again and tells them of where the seedlings might be. He doesn't really need to listen anyway. They know full well where the seedlings are. There’s two that only Cetacea can get to, one in Zwaardsrust and one in the Laguna di Gondolia, and there’s one more out in the snow in front of Angri-La.

Erik chuckles inwardly at the memory of the stories he recalls about Grand Master Pang. She seemed like a total badass, and Erik had wanted to meet her, but she’d died in the Fall. She might be alive now, though. That’ll be an interesting trip, to say the least.

Maybe he can take another look at that inscription that Morcant and Erdwin carved. It’s unlikely that it will have answers for him, but it’s worth a try. At this point, he’d take anything.

The Watchers stop talking, and El tucks the guiding light’s little lantern away into his bag. Erik abruptly snaps back to reality. Veronica is tugging on the sleeve of his coat, and he hurries to follow her towards the doors.

“Just … think about it? I owe you a favor for saving my life,” she adds as everyone else moves to leave the temple, Rab regaling them with tales of his training already.

Caught off guard, Erik only nods, and she gives him a wink as she joins her sister, already laughing in sync with the rest of the group at Rab’s expense.

Erik catches up with El, falling into step by his side, and El reaches out to casually intertwine their hands.

They’re two very different kinds of love, but Erik’s happy to be loved at all. Just knowing that someone cares about him is enough.

Erik lets his fingers curl around to touch against the back of El’s hand, and all the thoughts of Veronica’s offer and Healijah and the Seer and Morcant and Erdwin flood out of his mind.

He doesn’t miss them much. There’s no way they’re that important anyway, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright! next week's chapter gets fun!!! really fun I hope!!!
> 
> by the way, I found the horny chats on my school's group chat and I've never been so alarmed. literally what the heck.
> 
> fav told me about the upcoming rarepair jam, and I'm excited! thinking about joining, I dunno if that's a good idea and I also don't have tumblr so idk if I have to have fav sign me up or something? fav is becoming my older sister more and more every day, I swear


	5. Secrets That Everyone Knows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which we obtain our favorite little sister, but unlike canon it's actually plausible!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> good morning / afternoon / evening / night / ungodly hour.
> 
> after having yet another heck of a week I've determined that all my weeks are gonna be like that now! wonderful! I'll probably get used to it eventually but for now I'm kinda stressed :( anyway here's more of this
> 
> Jade ships Jasprik even harder than I do >:)

“Well, this explains how you knew about the letters, at least.” El rakes his fingers through some of his hair, focusing on untangling a certain stubborn knot about an inch away from the lower edge. It’s getting long again, but Erik’s not complaining. It’s more fun when El’s hair is long anyway. More silky perfection to mess up. Erik prides himself on it, actually. It’s very satisfying to ruin El’s hair.

Hendrik frowns. “Pardon, but what are these letters you speak of?”

Sylv presses their lips together and quickly sweeps up the stairs, saying something about helping the twins pack up. Complete lies, but in all honesty, Erik doesn’t blame them.

El flushes, and Jade spares him. “The letters you and Jasper wrote to each other when you were in training.” Her eyes sparkle mischievously. “And how  _ romantic  _ Sylv says they are.”

Hendrik’s eyes widen, and he scrambles to regain the substantial ground he has lost in the span of the last three seconds. “P- Princess-! They were simply letters.”

“I’ve read them, you know,” she teases, her smirk growing ever more prominent. “There’s no point trying to deny it. Would you like me to make my case? I can ask Jasper to bring me a few of them.” She straightens up a little bit, making as if to walk away, but Erik knows it’s an empty threat, because her eyes have that joking twinkle in them that he’s always surprised by. He used to think royals were all the same, but Jade is a lot more fun than her father. To be fair, Carnelian was possessed, but from what he’s heard, even before then he was kind of an ass.

“That won’t be necessary,” Hendrik says stiffly, but Jade has already won, because Jasper is walking down the stairs opposite them. He’s abandoned his odd purple ensemble in favor of his usual white and gold armor, the counterpart to Hendrik’s.

Jasper smirks at Hendrik, glancing at the emblem on his chest plate. “And here I was thinking you wouldn’t want to wear my armor. Seems some things never change.”

“It’s practical,” he replies awkwardly before abandoning the topic altogether. At least he recognizes that socializing isn’t one of his strengths. “Why are you here? I was under the impression that you were still in need of healing.”

“Oh, Hendrik.” Jasper flicks his hand carelessly. “I’ll be fine. Jade told me where you were headed next, and I couldn’t miss  _ that _ , now could I?”

“ _ You _ ,” Erik hisses, “are not coming with us. I have problems with that.” When Jasper gives him a skeptical look, he sighs deeply, the result of years of resentment culminating in a single sound. “One, you tried to kill us all. Two, you tied me to a fucking pole. Three, if you think you are  _ ever _ going near my sister again - “

The knight clears his throat, reaching up to flick his bangs out of his eyes, more a gesture of annoyance at Erik than at his hair, which is perfect as always. “Unless I’m very much mistaken, you don’t know how to break the curse.”

El goes completely still, his hurt-filled gaze lingering on Erik’s face. Erik refuses to look at him, instead trying to channel all the frustration and self-hatred he carries around into staring fixedly at Jasper, and  _ not _ looking into those blue eyes, brimming with concern, and he’s  _ not _ looking into them, nope, he’s  _ not _ -

Erik’s never been able to say no to El, even if the question isn’t spoken aloud.

“Curse?” whispers El, his fingers gently trailing down Erik’s cheek, and it’s taking a lot of willpower to not start sobbing angry tears, right here, in the middle of the Heliodorian great hall.

Erik closes his eyes tightly and musters what little courage he has left. “Yeah.”

It takes only moments for El to realize the implications of that. Erik braces himself to see the anger and confusion in his eyes, the same things he’s felt for the last five and change years, but they never come. El’s eyes are a complete blank. If even Erik can’t read him, he must be working really hard to conceal whatever it is he’s feeling. 

Oh, El. Too nice to show it. He deserves so much better.

Erik’s gaze drops to the floor, and he stares angrily at the spot where four of the floor tiles meet, and wills the hot tears away from his eyes. Unfortunately, in this case ‘away’ seems to mean leaving him, so despite his best efforts, they spill down his face.

Stupid. He knows it’s stupid. He’s weak for crying about this. He won’t even admit his guilt. Good thing Veronica isn’t here to see this. With his luck, Jasper will be telling her later.

Familiar arms wrap around him, and pull him in close. Erik instinctively buries his face in El’s chest before remembering himself and attempting to recoil, but El doesn’t let him.

“It’s not your fault,” El says softly, and it hits him like a ton of bricks.

El doesn’t hate him.

El doesn’t hate him for cursing his own sister.

Of course he doesn’t. He didn’t before, why should he now? He’s still  _ El, _ the second sweetest person in Erdrea (after Serena, of course), the legendary hero that isn’t quite legendary yet, the love of his life. Regardless of his … memory situation.

“While this is sickeningly sweet,” drawls Jasper, “I do have a logical argument for you, if you would be so kind as to stop whatever is going on here and listen to it.”

Erik flushes bright red, half in anger, half in embarrassment, but El glares at the knight and protectively tugs Erik closer. Huh. That’s actually kind of nice. Not that he’d ever admit it.

“ _ As I was saying, _ if you want to free your sister, you need me. I’ve given it some thought, and I believe there is a method that I can use. Similar to the way I unleashed Krystalinda.”

At those words, Hendrik shoots him a very intentional look that Erik finds completely unreadable, but one that Jasper clearly understands, because he mumbles, “Sorry,” and then looks down at the floor sheepishly for a moment, the barest hint of a blush making its way up his face. Hendrik looks satisfied with that reaction.

“Fine,” Erik growls. “As long as you promise not to do anything. And this is the only trip you’re ever going on.”

Jasper nods in agreement to his conditions, but Jade smirks. “What a disappointment. I would’ve enjoyed watching you struggle with each other.” She motions in the vague direction of the two knights next to her, and all of a sudden it’s painfully obvious. How close they’re standing. How they can read each other without a second thought. And, apparently, how they try to kill each other. But who is Erik to blame them? He and El met under just as strange of circumstances. “Even more fun than these two,” she adds, casting a fond glance towards El.

“We didn’t - “ El starts, but then he pauses. “Wait … you mean, I - “ He buries his face in his hands and presses the heels of his palms into his closed eyes. Erik can tell that he’s fighting tears. “I don’t - “ he tries, and then he crumbles. His head falls onto Erik’s shoulder, and Erik softly strokes his hair, the only reassuring thing he can do.

Erik can just barely hear Jasper saying, “So they’re  _ both _ disasters,” under his breath as he drags Hendrik and Jade away, but he chooses not to acknowledge it. At the very least, Jasper knows that it’s not his place to ask.

It’s not really Erik’s place to ask either, so he doesn’t. He already knows anyway.

They danced around each other for so long.

El used to be the one leading, but now Erik’s the only one who remembers the steps.

***

It takes almost no time to Zoom them all to Sniflheim City. El’s really tired afterwards, though. The addition of Hendrik and Jasper proves more difficult.

When Jasper walks into the castle (flanked by Veronica, who is there at Erik’s request, having been elected the most capable of subduing him), Krystalinda slaps a hand against her own thigh from her chair, scowling at him. Frysabel beams and restrains the former, motioning for Jasper to come inside. El convinced Erik to come with as well, but he hangs back as much as possible.

Not that it helps.

“Jasper! What brings you here? I haven’t heard from you in years.” Her soft tones echo through the cavernous throne room. Erik has gone to great lengths to avoid coming in here, and he hesitates before allowing El to drag him over the threshold.

Frysabel’s eyes go nearly as round as her glasses.

“Erik? Am I dreaming?” she says, half to herself, and takes her glasses off.

“No, you’re not, dear.” Krystalinda rips her gaze away from Jasper and glances at Erik before deeming him unworthy of her attention and turning back to the knight. “He’s the one who freed me from the grimoire. Told you he was handsome, didn’t I? But … you’re the one he ordered me to kill.” She waves her staff lazily at Hendrik, who remains in a ready position, as if he’s expecting to be ambushed at any moment. Clearly Erik isn’t the only one who’s uncomfortable.

“Long story. We need to go to the Library,” Erik explains in as few words as possible, doing his best to hide behind Hendrik’s towering form. When Frysabel simply stares at him, mild curiosity in her eyes, he huffs. “Look, just give us permission and I’ll get out of here.”

Her crystal blue eyes reflect nothing but confusion and hurt. “What? Why would I want you to leave so soon?”

“Uh, I’m wanted in your kingdom?”

Jasper snickers. “Where aren’t you?” he taunts easily, looking over his shoulder condescendingly at Erik, as if he isn’t even worth turning for. Erik isn’t going to give in to the silent challenge. It’s a bad insult anyway. He doesn’t care about his criminal status, not really.

“Erik, you do know that you aren’t wanted here?” interrupts Frysabel. She finally learned how to stand up for herself, huh? Maybe Krystalinda was actually a good influence.

Wait - “I’m not?”

Her eyes sparkle with newfound confidence. “No. That was my father’s policy, not mine. I don’t have a problem with the fact that you were my friend, you know. It might even deserve a reward. Of course you can go to the Library, if you need to. Might I ask why you’re going?”

“Retrieving a spell volume,” Jasper answers, shooting him a very discreet glare, one that lasts only a fraction of a second, but Erik notices, and whatever explanation he was preparing about his sister crumbles. Which is probably a good thing, because Frysabel is the last person he’d want to tell. He’s not even sure if she was told the rumor that went around about Mia’s death.

He doesn’t thank Jasper, but Erik’s almost certain that he knows. They’re both too stubborn to say anything about it, though, so he’ll never know for sure.

***

Jasper waves off any assistance and makes the journey to the Royal Library with only Hendrik for company. Nobody protests his decision. Erik’s just as happy to see them go as they are to leave. Those two have a lot to catch up on, and none of the party wants to be there for it, with the exception of Jade, who seems to want to humiliate them as much as she possibly can.

Veronica and Serena rush off with Sylv to go shopping, because apparently the twins know their way around Sniflheim. It makes some sense, though, because Arboria is so close. They might have stayed here at the beginning of their journey.

Jade and Rab go to the castle to talk with the queen and her soon-to-be consort. It feels a little bit strange, seeing Krystalinda without her sparkling white and orange cape embroidered with Sniflheim’s symbol, but at least that means she isn’t completely full of herself yet.

Erik spends the day hiding from people in the city. Thankfully, El draws most of the attention away from him, and nobody takes much note of their savior’s hooded companion. 

The sun can’t set fast enough for Erik’s tastes, and when it finally does sink below the snow-covered horizons, he attempts to get out as fast as he can. The gates are closed, and for a moment he panics, staring up at the walls closing him in, the walls that have been caging him in all these years, the walls he thought he’d finally escaped. But before he can really get started, El is by his side, and the guards open the gates for him. He doesn’t run outside, but he comes damn near close.

Veronica gives him a quizzical look from her spot at the campfire by the city’s edge, but she doesn’t say anything.

“I don’t understand how you aren’t freezing,” El mumbles, staring at Erik. He’s wearing his green tunic again, which offers slightly less cold protection, but much more anonymity because of the hood.

Erik shrugs. “I grew up here, remember? You cold?”

El nods shyly, and Erik knows what he’s asking for.

When Jade and Rab come back from their late-night chat with the young queen and the much older witch (maybe? Krystalinda never clarified her age), they find that only Erik is still awake, sitting by the dying campfire, his arms pulling the pile of corsair-clad languid Luminary in his lap close. The sleeves of Erik’s coat are uncuffed and much too long on him. El starts to get up, but Erik shushes him, and he lets his head fall back against his chest.

Jade giggles softly to herself, and Rab shakes his head at them before going into the tent.

Erik stays on watch the entire night. Maybe he’s just being paranoid, but there’s no way he’s going to leave them unguarded in front of Sniflheim, especially not when he’s there. It has nothing to do with the fact that if he moved, he would probably wake El up. Nothing at all.

***

The Vikings aren’t too pleased when the Salty Stallion pulls up at their dock, but El and the rest of them have been here before, so there’s no real cause for alarm.

Erik walks out without his hood on. He’s wearing his corsair coat, hands already set on his knives and ready to pull them out at a moment’s notice. Little do the other party members know that he’s willing to do whatever it takes to keep them safe, including exacting revenge. He keeps the part of him that wants to murder them all on the spot in check, for the most part.

Chief sneers as Jasper strides elegantly past the piles of gold, jewels and (to Erik’s dismay) statues around the room. He keeps his head high, not even sparing a glance for the Chief. Wouldn’t that be a showdown to remember. Jasper would win in a landslide. Goddess, what Erik wouldn’t give to see that go down.

“ _ Oh _ .” Chief’s snarling smile becomes even more twisted as his eyes fall on Erik, and his blood runs cold. “Our runt is back for a challenge.”

El’s eyes go dark, and his fingertips brush the edges of his own swords, but Erik holds out a hand softly, and they fall away.

“I’m not here for you,” Erik declares, and then walks straight through. He doesn’t look back.

Everyone stays strong for the exit, but as soon as they’re through the back door, El crushes him into a hug, and Sylv places a hand on his shoulder comfortingly, and Veronica openly gapes at him.

“ _ They  _ raised you?” she asks weakly. “I suppose that explains a lot.”

“Thanks,” Erik mutters as a soft blue glow leaves Serena’s hands, and the anger (along with the hint of red in his eyes) is diffused. She offers a wordless nod, and a soft, almost understanding smile - but how could the angel understand his desire to tear people apart? She isn’t supposed to want that kind of thing. “I needed that.”

Serena beams, and again Erik wonders how she is able to empathize. “Anytime.”

Veronica frowns, still deep in thought. “If you weren’t going to … then why are we here?” She stares blankly at the snow-covered branches of a tree, absentmindedly fidgeting with the hem of her dress and accidentally singing it with a spare tendril of flame.

“Have you not told her?” Jasper’s tone is far too judgemental for Erik’s tastes, but he nods anyway. “Oh, this is going to be amusing. You’re in for quite the surprise.”

Erik swallows. “Could you guys stay out here? I just … if this doesn’t work … “

Hendrik gives a stiff nod, but other than that, nobody responds. Veronica is still reeling, Serena is shivering, Sylv is lighting the strongest fire they can for her, Rab is rummaging through his pack for something, and Jade is staring at the wooden door seemingly without blinking.

El’s eyes have that fire in them again, and Erik realizes all of a sudden that he isn’t the only one who might need one of Serena’s spells to calm him down. He grabs onto El’s hand, and he visibly relaxes. Does El really want to be there that much? That’s sweet. He was actually planning on bringing him along anyway, but he seems so happy with the current situation that Erik doesn’t have the heart to tell him that.

Wordlessly, he turns away, and the door crumbles to the ground with one well-placed sigil. He’s gotten so much better at those that it doesn’t take much effort. The door can only be knocked down via spell since there isn’t a key anymore, and upon reflection this was actually a good thing, since Erik has yet to meet someone else in all of Erdrea who could use earth sigils.

For once, Jasper has nothing to say, no insults to throw, not even a condescending look. He stares vacantly at Mia’s frozen expression, something deeply sad in his eyes, a kind of regret. Of course, it’s nothing compared to the guilt that Erik feels, but it’s still something.

El places a hand on his shoulder, and Erik closes his eyes as Jasper starts to recite some kind of incantation, his voice becoming … different somehow. The change in tone is small enough that it’s not alarming, but it’s still strange. He couldn’t open his eyes if he wanted to. If this doesn’t work, he’s going to go challenge some of the Vikings to duels, leave them alive, take all their gold, and leave. Maybe set the mead stores on fire for good measure.

There’s one thing he knows: if this doesn’t work, he’s not going to give up. If there’s anything that being El’s companion has taught him, it’s that if he gives up, he’s guaranteed to fail.

The silence is louder than anything else.

“Jasper? You got a new aesthetic. Not bad.”

Erik’s eyes fly open.

Jasper tries his best at a smirk, but Erik can see the relief in his gaze. “You flatter me.”

“C’mere, dumbass,” whispers Mia, and Erik crushes her into a hug. To his surprise, she hugs him back just as tightly, and her eyes shine glassy with tears. “I missed you. This is a lot more fun than the first method,” she teases, sticking her tongue out at Jasper.

“Yes, I thought you’d prefer this to a demonic ritual.”

Mia throws her arms around his neck, and for a second it looks like she’s trying to strangle him, but then she lifts herself off the ground. Erik waits for the jealousy to strike him, to run through his mind, to corrupt him, to take him over. He waits for the desire to tear Jasper apart to arise again, but for some reason it doesn’t. Instead, he almost feels … happy for her? Huh. It’s probably just the remnants of Serena’s rage-subduing spell lingering.

Mia beams as Jasper sets her down, rolling his eyes. She hugs El too, and he doesn’t question it, instead just letting her make a beeline into his arms.

“Is everyone else here too? I wanna go annoy Hendrik. Plus Jade still has to teach me how to kick ass,” Mia says matter-of-factly. “I heard about the tournament.”

“Shit,” Erik grumbles. “Yeah, they’re outside. There’s also the twins. You haven’t met them. Veronica’s the short one.”

Erik almost hears someone yelling  _ I heard that _ , but that’s most likely just a figment of his imagination. One of the (few) voices of reason in his head has taken on Veronica’s insufferable tones.

Jasper clears his throat, an absolutely evil expression taking over his chiseled features. “I believe you and Veronica would get along well. She was … indisposed before.”

El’s eyes widen, and then they narrow in suspicion. “What do you mean?”

“El lost his memory, so, uh, maybe don’t mention that stuff,” Erik hisses, shooting daggers at Jasper as best he can without El noticing. It doesn’t work. El can read him anyway. It wouldn’t have done much good. Curse their whole partner thing, whatever it is. Maybe it’s some kind of special Luminary feature.

“When are you going to tell me?” El’s words are soft and pained, his mouth scrunched slightly in concern, in that way that makes Erik want to slap whoever evoked it. Unfortunately he can’t exactly slap himself without provoking suspicion and/or El’s anger, so that’ll have to wait.

Erik does the first thing that comes to mind: he reaches up to cup El’s face and kisses him, as gently, as softly, as he can, as if he’d break the fragile boy in his arms if he were to do anything more.

Jasper and Mia scrunch their noses in disgust in unison.

“Later,” he mumbles, and lets the guilt tear whatever last fragments of a conscience he has left into irreparable pieces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no I will not apologize for that ending, I had to do something to cut the fluff
> 
> aaand this is where I begin to mess around with canon. I researched it (for real), and it turns out that you can’t go to Drustan’s trials until AFTER you’ve gotten Cetacea the armor! so let’s just pretend I knew that and consciously chose to make a change there for the purposes of enriching the story.
> 
> next time we’re going to Drustan, but we haven’t been to the Tower to see Serenica yet! and a few new things happen. I’m actually really excited!!!


	6. Dancing Through Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which Mia and Jasper said 'romance? no thanks' and, like the fool I am, I listened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I skipped a week for rarepair but!!! I'm back!!! (if you haven't read that and you like my stuff, pls check it out!)
> 
> this was supposed to be wedding fluff but then Mia and Jasper gave me and my chapter plan the most judgemental look in existence and I gave in to their demands. enjoy

It’s not surprising when the seedling transports them to a void dimension. Erik wishes he could say he didn’t like it here, because it’s creepy and all, but he finds it surprisingly peaceful, despite knowing he’s in a realm that might be nothing more than a hallucination induced by a lack of healing spells thrown at him during some battle. This could be a dream while he’s bleeding out in some field, or, Goddess forbid, the Snaerfelt. He could be a five-year-old kid dying in the snow for all he knows.

Sometimes he wonders if it’s all been a dream: the Seer, and becoming a thief, and breaking the  _ Luminary _ of all people out of jail, and running from Heliodor, and the World Tree falling, and his own sister trying to kill him, and reversing time to save the other person he’s almost willing to call a sister … but then he looks at El, and he knows everything’s real, even this dizzy dimension inhabited by a centuries-old ghost seeking to protect their relics.

Erik used to think it would be cool to live forever, but after seeing what Drustan has been reduced to, he’s not so sure.

Every time he sees the glow of the seedling about to swallow them, he almost feels like he’s back at the Tower of Lost Time, preparing to let El go, and he wonders if they’re time traveling when they’re going into Drustan’s weird little fantasies (fuck, that sounds dirty), but then it’s just the void. Yeah, because  _ that’s _ perfectly fine. Nothing to worry about there.

His heart starts sinking into a fathoms-deep lake of bad feelings when he sees the place they’ve ended up at. The gothic architecture. The odd spiked handrails that can’t be practical. The jagged stone formations. The sheer elegance seeping through in every aspect.

The Fortress of Fear.

How did Drustan know the building plans of this place? It was created by Mordegon, and it was way after his time. This makes no sense. Not that anything else does, but this makes the hairs on the back of his neck prickle more than anything else they’ve encountered.

“Oh! Hey, I know where we are!” Mia exclaims delightedly, shooting El a blinding grin. 

She runs down the rocky stairs, and tiptoes on a beam that suspends her over … nothing. Jasper chuckles as he follows, practically dancing across the alarmingly thin path. He’s never seemed more graceful, or happier. He reaches out for Mia’s hand and twirls her around, like they’re partners on a nonexistent ballroom floor, dancing to a tune none of them can hear.

It’s no wonder the two of them seem so comfortable here: it’s their palace.

“Uh … you sure that’s safe?” Erik yells across to the other side, where they’ve safely crossed and are waiting for him.

“‘Course! Why, you scared?” teases Mia, and Veronica promptly shoves him. He stumbles, but his feet still catch the beam, and he walks across it easily despite feeling less than stable.

“Enchanted.” Jasper flicks at the end of his ponytail without glancing at Erik once. “I couldn’t have anyone falling, now could I? Especially with a troublemaker like Mia on the loose.”

“But I thought Sir Drustan constructed this place?” Serena frowns. “Your enchantments shouldn’t have been in place, and yet … “

The blond knight rolls his eyes (resulting in Mia looking far too pleased with herself). “I enchanted it just now. Although the ones at the palace were permanently enchanted for her as well.”

Veronica’s eyebrows fly up into her bangs. “Really? You can do a levitation spell in that short of time? I’m impressed,” she says quietly, staring down at Jasper from her lofty position on top of Hendrik’s shoulders (which has become her favorite traveling spot. Hendrik says he only puts up with it because she has much shorter legs than everyone else and takes more steps, but Erik is starting to think he might actually have a soft spot for the fiery mage).

“I’ve trained in magic for the last thirty years,” Jasper scoffs. “I had no better use of my time,” he mutters, tearing his golden glare away from Veronica in favor of shooting Hendrik a dirty look.

“Anyway, this should be easy with us here!” Mia declares brightly, skipping off in the direction of the stairs leading down to the fortress’s entrance already. The monsters pay her no heed, instead just continuing their peaceful frolicking, and Erik wonders just how badly she scared them as Gyldygga to make them that compliant. “I could navigate Jasper’s palace in my sleep.”

“Jasper’s?” El raises an eyebrow, and for a second Erik panics. He doesn’t want to explain about the Fortress of Fear yet, El isn’t ready,  _ he _ isn’t ready, that’ll make it all too real -

“You built this place yourself?” he continues, reaching out to an eerie floating blue lantern with black ironwork around the edges and letting his fingers skim across the surface, drawing them back after the barest brush of contact.

Erik’s breath leaves him in a hiss. That was way too close.

“He built the original. I’m not completely sure who constructed this, though,” Jade admits. “I’d say it’s probably Drustan, but how can I know? This certainly is strange … “

The group fades into silence as they start to cross the tiled path to the doors. The path is set with glowing blue stones, and there’s gold decoration along the edges. It’s actually kind of pretty, if he ignores the whole root-of-evil thing.

El pushes open the doors, but Mia is the first one inside. Her boots slap against the plush bloodred carpet as she rushes inside, abruptly skidding to a stop in the center of the long rectangular room and closing her eyes for a brief second, the same way that Erik does when he’s about to use one of his earth sigils.

Jasper grins, and it’s so absurd to see anything other than a smirk or a scowl on his face that Erik does a double take. The knight holds out a hand for the party to stop, and they all wait at the edge of the room, staring expectantly at the small blue-haired figure in the center of the room. She stands with her feet planted, and presses her hands together in front of her.

Then she lets go, and her hands fly apart, landing back at her sides.

The room lights up blindingly blue.

She is illuminated with a teal glow, and she cuts a dramatic and powerful silhouette. There’s a glint in her eyes, one that says  _ don’t touch me, _ and for some reason Erik’s perfectly willing to comply.

The carpet catches fire, and then the whole room is burning around her, and she is at the center of the inferno, walking straight through a wall of fire, her eyes flooded with gold.

Hendrik stares, and there’s real alarm in his eyes, which is a very significant achievement. “What is the meaning of this? Have we been harboring a devil child?”

Just as soon as it had started, the fire is gone, and Mia looks normal again, with the exception of the tiny hint of gold in her eyes. The room is also perfectly fine, as if nothing had ever happened to it, as if it wasn’t being destroyed in front of their own eyes moments earlier.

“An excellent performance,” says Jasper coolly, indifferently, and Mia flops down on the carpet, which isn’t even singed. “You’ve improved quite a bit. I thought you’d be out of practice, but it seems you show promise yet.”

“You’ve trained this child,” Hendrik states flatly.

Mia slaps her hand down on the floor with a somewhat muffled  _ thump _ . The carpet is too soft to make much of an impact. “Hey-uh! I’m  _ right here, _ y’know.”

“You are an instructor as well, aren’t you? She’s much more fun than the knight recruits, and she has real talent, not just a foolish desire to achieve greatness hidden behind a veil of false loyalty,” Jasper snarls, and then he takes in a deep breath, clearly trying to compose himself. “Without a mentor, it’s hard to control your powers. I didn’t want her to end up like I did,” he reluctantly grumbles.

“Ugh, so  _ dramatic.  _ I’m fine now, in case you didn’t notice. Just kinda tired.” Mia flops back down on the floor for emphasis, giving an exaggerated groan.

Erik picks her up, throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of flour. She lets out a yelp of protest and scowls at the only thing she can see (which happens to be Serena, who is currently at the back of the group, making sure everyone’s alright).

***

By the time they reach Drustan in Erdwin’s Vault (which makes sense, considering that it’s called the Luminary’s Trial), they’re all tired, but thankfully, not exhausted. They didn’t have to do much fighting, if any, because of Mia and Jasper.

Drustan offers nothing more than the usual congratulations, and the usual strange look shot Hendrik’s way, before he brings forth their fight. Two monsters to take down this time, instead of one. Erik has a bad feeling about this one, and rightly so.

Mia pales as soon as she sees a strange glowing echo of Gyldygga staring back at her, but if she’s scared, she doesn’t let on.

They deal with Booga first anyway, because he’s into beguiling and they aren’t into beguiling. He’s also generally annoying. Too bad Jade isn’t in the fighting party, because she would have absolutely torn him apart. Serena fires off countless multiheals, and they all stay upright fairly easily, until Serena and El both fall under Booga’s spell.

“Fuck,” Erik mumbles under his breath, and Mia returns the sentiment, albeit much louder.

“Can we switch them out?” she yells over her claws digging into Gyldygga’s metallic flesh.

“No time.” Erik’s knives clang against El’s right-hand sword, and he shoves the blade away from himself, unwilling to hurt his partner even now. “You ready to shine, kid?”

“Cover me,” she mutters, and she closes her eyes, focusing her energy again. Erik draws them both into her range, carefully dodging most of their blows, and getting the hell out when Mia roars in rage and in warning to him.

Her eyes go gold again as her fire rips into them. She’s beautiful, shimmering with golden light and surrounded by blue and white fire, and he’s never been more proud of her.

Gyldygga’s metal skeleton crumples to the ground, and both of the ex-Sentinels evaporate.

Erik catches her before she hits the floor, and Serena heals her in a silent apology. The gold also relinquishes its hold on Mia’s eyes, and Erik wonders if that’s her version of wild side.

“I salute thee,” Drustan says, sounding just as awkward as Hendrik might in the same situation. “Verily, thou hast overcome the trial with aplomb!” He gazes warmly upon their group of ten for a moment before pulling El aside to discuss his reward options. For some reason, he insists that El be the only one who chooses the rewards, and that the others have no influence. El usually checks with them anyway, just to make sure they’re all on the same page.

So far he’d come back with plans for how to forge the Supreme Sword of Light, and a promise for a higher level of horse race in Gallopolis, which, oddly enough, came true. The Sultan had been perplexed by the vision he’d received, but he’d let El compete in the new races anyway without questioning it.

Erik waits with Mia across the vault. Veronica wordlessly hands her a little vial that Erik recognizes as a magic-replenishing elixir, and Mia downs the entire thing in a single gulp. It seems to help a bit, and she goes slightly less pale.

“Honey, that was amazing!” exclaims Sylv, their eyes lit up with excitement. “Once all this nonsense is over, would you join my performance? I’m planning to open a theater, the biggest, most beautiful theater in all of Erdrea! And  _ you- _ “ they take one of Mia’s hands, “ -would be a perfect addition to my cast!”

El taps his shoulder, and Erik leaves Mia to discuss the possibility in hushed, excited tones with Sylv and Veronica. She did always want to have her own specialty. Erik inwardly chuckles at the image of some kind of Gold Rush and fire combination.

“Hey, what’s up?” he asks, glancing up at El’s face and discovering that he’s blushing furiously. That’s … interesting. A little bit weird, but maybe it’s too hot in this chamber thingy? Or maybe Erik’s just looking particularly sexy today. “Something wrong? Need help on a decision? You don’t have to consult me on it if you don’t want to.”

El opens his mouth, and then closes it again, blushing even more vividly.

“Um, I know this isn’t the best time, but … will you marry me?”

Somewhere in the background, Veronica breaks into peals of laughter, but when Erik glances back, she’s looking at Sylv, and all three have their backs turned to the two of them. It doesn’t seem like anyone heard him except Erik.

“You don’t have to, I just - that was one of the things Drustan offered me, and you said that you might want to live in Cobblestone with me, and Amber wants to feed you, and when - “

El is silenced by the soft press of Erik’s lips against his.

Erik’s world narrows, and suddenly they’re all alone, and all that matters is that the boy in his arms knows how much he’s loved.

It’s not demanding, or overly passionate, or filled with lust, or anything like that. It’s just a kiss, like any other, but also completely different because holy shit, El wants to  _ marry _ him. If this is a dream, it’s not one he’s going to be happy about waking up from.

Unfortunately, El pulls back, and there’s still something uncertain and insecure in his eyes.

Erik’s never been particularly good with words, but of all times, this is the one to finally realize his inner poetic potential. He gives the Goddess a moment to hear him, but nothing comes.

“Yeah,” he whispers breathlessly.

El beams and crushes whatever air might have remained in his lungs out, but Erik doesn’t mind.

“Oi! What are you  _ doing _ to him? He can’t breathe if you don’t let him go, you idiot,” Veronica retorts from her side of the room, making her way over to them both, Sylv and Mia following. Rab and Jade glance over too, but Hendrik and Jasper are talking to Drustan and are too far away to notice.

“I’ll hug my fiance all I want,” declares El happily, and he scoops Erik up in his arms, holding him close to his chest while also allowing him to finally inhale.

The reactions are instant.

Veronica slams the butt of her staff on the ground. Sylv gasps excitedly. Serena claps her hands together with delight. Jade rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling. Rab’s face splits into a proud grin.

There’s only one reaction that Erik really cares about, and when he finally finds her face, hidden behind Veronica, she’s beaming, and he lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“I’ve decided,” El calls to Drustan, and he breaks away from the pair of knights, turning to El, who still has Erik in his arms.

The corner of Hendrik’s mouth quirks up, which is basically his equivalent of a full smile, and he steps aside, joining the rest of the party behind them. Jasper leaves a little more reluctantly, but he gives a small nod of what might be respect, and he figures that’s the best they’ll get.

“Thou hast made thy decision?”

“Mm-hm.” El brushes his lips against Erik’s forehead as he sets him down, and if Erik didn’t know better, he could almost see the faintest glimmer of a smile under Drustan’s helmet.

Drustan raises both of his hands, and traces the lines of a sigil, some kind of bond. The path they took lights up with a shimmering pale glow, the sides of which start to change from white to blue. Erik glances over and finds that El’s side is fading into a familiar purple. In the center, it’s the color of the moments just before sunrise, their colors blending together seamlessly.

“May you live a long and happy life together,” Drustan says, and then as quickly as it had started, the magic has vanished.

El kisses him, and it’s just the briefest brush of their lips, but it’s the most perfect kiss Erik’s ever had.

Mia wrinkles her nose, but for once, she doesn’t turn away.

***

El Zooms them all back to Cobblestone. They need to rest before journeying to meet with the Timekeeper anyway, so everyone agrees that it’s a good idea to take a break for a few days. Mia and Jasper come with too. Erik doesn’t quite see how or why the strategist has become part of their group, but if that’s the price he has to pay to have his sister with him, it’s worth it. Mostly.

Gemma launches herself at El, blond hair flying everywhere, and somehow Erik isn’t jealous. Maybe it’s because he sees the same kind of connection between them as with Mia and Jasper. That makes him angry on several different levels, but at least he doesn’t have any hard feelings towards her. She’s really too good of a person to dislike.

“Who’s this lovely new‘un?” Gemma gestures towards Mia.

Oh no.

“Who’re you calling lovely? Look at yourself,” Mia spits. “You’re the ultimate representation of a country girl, and I was raised by Heliodor’s fuckin’ most wanted.” She says it like it’s something to be proud of. It really shouldn’t be touching. Erik probably just has low standards.

Gemma gives a very unladylike snort. “You’ll be Erik’s sister, then? I like y’already.”

“Yeah, you better, ‘cause I’m staying for a while. These two - “

“Hey, let us make the announcement,” Erik protests, and she stops in her metaphorical tracks.

“We’re getting married,” El murmurs, and Gemma squeals, so loudly that several people glance at her, including the Underdigger by the gate, and a kid that Erik recognizes as Connie. Neither of them provoke good memories, and he sincerely hopes the latter has forgotten him. “Well, technically we already are, but there wasn’t a proper ceremony, and I was thinking you could host us a real wedding, and I know you like fashion … “

Her jaw drops. “Y’mean I get to plan the bleedin’  _ Luminary’s _ weddin’? ’Course I’m gonna say yes! I’m so happy for you! I’ll be startin’ on sketches righ’ away!”

“If it involves tasting cake, I’d love to help,” says Serena shamelessly, her eyes shining with that sheen that means she’s excited. Of course she is: it’s Serena, and it’s cake. A match made in heaven. Maybe literally.

“Cake? Hell yeah.” Mia joins Serena and Gemma on their way to Dunstan’s house to start on preparations. Maybe they’ll just be musing about the best kinds of cakes and their favorite kinds of clothes. Mia would be pretty good at that. She’s told so many stories of the luxury she lived in at the palace that she’d probably be their most valuable asset.

“I loathe that I’m doing this,” Jasper mutters. “I swear on my life it’s only for the sweets. Nobody will believe you if you tell them otherwise.”

“Have fun!” El calls after him, and then bursts into giggles.

“I am glad to see that your sister has had such a good effect on him,” Hendrik remarks, wistfully gazing at Jasper motioning dramatically with his hands about something to the trio. “He used to be much more lighthearted. I suspect that was before the darkness had a hold on him. She is helping him to recover just as much as anything else.”

“She’s a force to be reckoned with. You did a good job raising her,” Jade says softly, placing a hand on Erik’s shoulder and watching them all walk up the hill to the mayor’s house.

Erik stares at her. “You’re joking, right? I was a shitty brother.”

“I thought the same,” replies Jade, her gaze drifting to the river that flows through the town.

“Oh, she thinks  _ very _ highly of you,” Sylv assures him (where did they come from?). “The little dear says that you’re the best brother she could ask for. Maybe don’t tell her I told you that.”

Dunstan opens the door and outright gapes. It must be a pretty odd scene. His granddaughter, and two other girls about her age, along with a knight of Heliodor in full uniform. Jasper’s often in uniform, but he says it’s only because he designed the armor and doesn’t want to let his own brilliance go to waste. Hendrik wears his all the time too, even though they’ve finally found him some reasonable-looking clothes. Erik is starting to suspect it’s not just for the practicality.

“She does love you. It’s hard not to love your siblings,” says Veronica from her recently lowered position. “No matter how much you fight.”

Erik almost gets the feeling that it’s not entirely Mia she’s talking about, but he doesn't comment on it. If he feels like maybe he agrees, well, that’s a thought for another time. No need to ever tell Veronica about that.

Dunstan lets Gemma in to get her things, but the others stay outside. Mia tries lighting a haybail on fire. It goes up in towering blue flames, and Jasper hurriedly puts it out before Gemma can come back. He doesn’t get it done in time, and Gemma suppresses a scream, eventually resulting in all-around laughter, despite the fact that Mia just committed arson.

“Thanks.” Erik focuses his gaze on the mountains illuminated orange and pink by the setting sun instead of on his friends’ faces, and none of them see the tears shimmering in them. At least, if they do, they have the decency not to comment on it.

Veronica and Hendrik go to join the four planners outside the mayor’s house, and the look on Dunstan’s face is priceless. Jade rushes to catch up with them, and then Sylv leaps after her, and then Rab leaves to go talk to Amber with a twinkle in his eye that Erik is simultaneously grateful for and angry at.

Erik and El climb up the roof of the shed near El’s house, and watch the sun sink below the horizon, bathing the town in a beautiful golden glow. The kind of gold that Erik likes the most. The kind that nobody could ever own, no matter the amount of jewelry or expensive items or money or prestige they might have.

The kind that he claimed as his own long ago.

The kind that not even the exploded dark star floating above them can take away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is basically turning into an I Heart Jasper fic and I'm so sorry.
> 
> anyway I have a plan for the ending now!!! exciting!!! and I shouldn't be taking any more weeks off, I even have part of the next chapter written out already! (it's not good. I'm sorry in advance for whatever hot flaming garbage I dump on y'all next week.)


	7. As Intended

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the author refuses to tag Hendrik/Jasper. that's about it. have fun kids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> apparently it is not normal to consume an entire costco size pumpkin pie within three to five business days

Every day, Erik thinks he’s dreaming, that he will wake up somewhere on the road and Veronica will still be dead and Mia will still be possessed and he will still feel lost in his own family.

But every day, he wakes curled up next to El, tangled in his arms. Exactly where he wants to be.

Erik isn’t exactly used to living like this, but he sure as hell is used to taking care of El, so he does just that. He cooks them breakfast. Amber teaches him how to make El’s favorite stew, and she even goes so far as to show him which pumpkins to use from their storehouse. He still finds it strange that she actually likes him, even after she was told that he was a criminal and was on the run with her son. She says that El wasn’t the only one Heliodor mistakenly threw in their dungeons.

That’s the nicest thing anyone who isn’t in their party has said to him in years.

Gemma shatters that record with style almost immediately, and suddenly he finds himself showered in affection from everyone around him. It’s not just El: Cole asks to hear stories of their adventures, Dunstan laughs heartily at said stories over dinner, Mia spends nearly all of her time around him, however begrudgingly.

It’s strange, but every day he grows more and more certain that he wants to stay. That this is where he’s supposed to be. He doesn’t get attached like this. It’s terrifying.

Goodbyes are usually easy for Erik. After all, he’s never really had anyone to say goodbye to. But these ones are difficult. As Amber fruitlessly attempts to wipe away her tears, and Gemma waves ecstatically with the handkerchief she embroidered herself with the Mark of Light, and Cole shouts excitedly at being let out of the village to see a sliver of Heliodor, he makes a silent promise to himself that he will come back. That’s a first. Even when he left Mia, he knew if he had made that promise that he couldn’t have kept it.

Thank the stars Mia is coming with him, because he probably couldn’t handle it if he had to leave her behind again.

She’s been working on her fire trick, and she can’t wait to show Veronica and Sylv and Jasper the progress she’s made. Her flames aren’t much bigger, but they don’t sap away quite as much of her energy anymore.

El Zooms them to Heliodor first for most of the crew, then to Phnom Nonh for Sylv, who was attempting to assemble their Soldiers of Smile again with a few of the residents (and is avoiding their father), and last to Arboria for the twins. Erik isn’t completely sure how El knew that Luminary’s Landing was a Cetacea-calling spot, but he’s not about to question it. His method makes sense, so what does it matter if it’s a little strange? Maybe someone told him. That sounds plausible. Maybe the Seer mentioned something about it.

When they land near the stairs in front of Arboria, Erik almost faceplants in the dirt, but El catches him with a hand around his waist before he can hit the ground.

Serena is already at the gates when they arrive, and she calmly walks down the stairs to greet them, sweeping each and every one of them into her arms, even Jasper, who stands there completely tensed up before hesitantly returning the gesture. Erik almost snorts at his inability to receive affection. He knows that struggle very well.

Veronica, on the other hand, barrels down the stairs three at a time, one of her braids untied and flying loose in the wind. She’s never looked wilder, or happier, and Erik wishes this side of her would come out more often. The grass behind her gathers a slight layer of frost in her haste to get over to them. She doesn’t pick one person to embrace first: instead, she just kind of … leaps. It shouldn’t work, it really shouldn’t, but Sylv catches her, and somehow they draw the rest of them into a group hug.

For what might be the first time, Erik legitimately feels bad for Jasper. He can’t handle the amount of love that everyone in the group has for each other. Maybe someday he’ll realize that he’s just the same as the rest of them, but until then, this is gonna be hard.

It must be a strange sight. The ten of them couldn’t be more different, and yet here they are.

“Alright, I know you’ve missed me,” Veronica’s eyes glimmer a little extra here, “but we haven’t got all day.”

“Come along, you lot. We’ve a tower to visit, eh?” Rab starts his usual dramatic walk that’s probably meant to motivate the group, but does nothing. Erik hopes for the old man’s sake that he doesn’t drop another one of his dirty mags. Luckily, his pack seems to be securely fastened, and nothing falls out, digest or otherwise.

“Remind me why I agreed to do this,” Jasper grumbles, and Hendrik only offers a shrug.

Mia grins, her eyes alight with mischief and happiness. “Because I’m coming, and you love me.”

“You think so? You, my dear, are in for quite the disappointment.”

“‘My dear’? _ Excuse _ me? I thought only Hendrik got that title.”

Hendrik gives a very strange cough that could be concealing something, and Erik suspects that he’s just as surprised by this discovery as everyone else in earshot.

Mia has the nerve to wave back to the two knights as she skips ahead to the front of the group to talk with Veronica and Sylv. Erik catches a glimpse of fire in her cupped hands, and the slight scent of smoke wafting over from the grass to their left, and the frantic motion of Veronica’s hands as she puts out the fire with some of her ice. He’s not completely sure which of them to side with: sure, it’s holy-ass grass, but he’s always kinda hated holy-ass stuff.

***

Cetacea takes them to the Tower of Lost Time. There’s no wind, nothing to swirl up the dust and pollen and memories of what they’ve done, but the last ones come even without a breeze to awaken them.

Upon taking one glance at the building around the corner, Serena murmurs something about feeling faint, and immediately collapses to the ground in a heap. Sylv picks up the puddle of angel on the ground and carries her into the tower, despite looking a little out of it themself.

The platforms look somewhat similar to the Watcher ones, but the feeling, the smell of the air, the little mechanical ticking, the too-quick movement of the gears around the platform’s edges, it’s all wrong. Something about this place just sends shivers down his spine. There’s nothing here to remind him of good memories. All this place holds is misery and the vain hope that there was a better world for them.

In retrospect, that hope wasn’t so vain, but it was still not their finest idea. So many things could have gone wrong … 

The Timekeeper - Serenica - waits for them, a speck of a bluish glow in the distance.

Sylv sets Serena down. Veronica tries pouring water on her face from her little canteen. Erik rolls his eyes and shoves her out of the way, drawing a triangular sigil to wake her up.

Her eyes open slightly, and then she blinks several times, swiping at her eyes with her semi-gloved hands. “Erik? Oh … I’m ever so sorry. I hope I wasn’t too much of a bother.”

“No, it’s fine. I know why you don’t like this place … “ Erik mutters the last part under his breath, as they catch up with the rest of the group, already standing by the Timekeeper, who is looking at them curiously.

“Are you Serenica?” Serena blurts, and then slaps a hand over her mouth.

“Serenica?” hisses the Timekeeper, in that strange voice that reminds Erik of nails on a chalkboard combined with a deadly snake: the elongated S’s, the strange ethereal quality, the odd echoes. “This is not a name I know. State your purpose here.”

“The Dark One has returned, and, well, we need you to give us the power to save the world.” Standing a little taller, Veronica gazes up at the Timekeeper with some kind of emotion that Erik can’t place. Reverence? Disappointment? A mix of the two?

“Save the world?” they echo blankly. Maybe this is a foreign concept to them.

“Do you remember this, Serenica? This was your flute,” says Veronica, as if she were talking to a small child who doesn’t quite have a grasp on the world yet.

“I- I know it … but from where?”

Goddess, the Timekeeper really is slow today.

“The memory is faint, but … yes, it is there. And yet … the flute I remember was different. Mightier.”

They reach out a strange four-fingered hand, but they don’t touch the flute in Veronica's hands. Their fingers brush the air two centimeters above it, but never go so low as to actually make contact with the flute. The appearance of the instrument remains the same, but clearly Veronica can feel a change, because she gasps at it and her eyes go wide.

“It can play but one melody. But it is a great one, a sacred one. A song of awakening … a song handed down through the years … “ they say almost mournfully, and Erik gets the impression that they are saddened by the pass of time, that each year saps away more of their joy. He really shouldn’t relate to that, because he’s not even properly old yet, but he’s experienced more than enough misery for one lifetime.

It’s Serena’s turn to gasp as she pulls out her harp from her satchel. “I think we know that song!”

And so they begin.

_ Rejoice, rejoice, the time is come, _ a _ rise, awaken, holy one, _ they chant.

_ We offer unto you the skies,  _ the Timekeeper adds, somewhat hesitantly.

_ Fly free once more, arise, arise. _

In combination with Serena’s soft tones and Veronica’s anything but soft declarations, the Timekeeper’s voice doesn’t sound quite so out of place.

Veronica raises the flute to her lips, and for the first time, she plays. She’s never had the chance to do that before. They knew El could do it when they found Cetacea this time around, and she wasn’t there when Serena tried at Luminary’s Landing. The surprisingly peaceful notes of the flute sound different somehow from Veronica. 

Maybe it’s just Erik’s imagination, but something about this particular melody is haunting, and sad, and profoundly moving. It speaks of wasted chances, of unreasonable fears, of times nobody else recalls, of secrets that can’t be spoken aloud.

Golden light gathers above the twins, and El raises the Sword towards it. The light beams towards Cetacea. It’s at this moment that Erik notices that the tower has an open roof, and suddenly he feels much less imprisoned here. The memories can’t haunt him if he can chase them out through the roof, he figures.

Cetacea glows golden with the result of … whatever just happened, and then they’re transported to her.

This armor stuff is awesome. Why didn’t they give Veronica the flute before?

***

El lands them in a small, secluded spot in the First Forest. It’s fairly unremarkable, filled with a few monsters, a lot of mud, and some trees, with nothing beyond that. Not even a locked door.

Erik glances around at one of the weird dancing monsters. “Uh … why are we here?”

El brightens. “I found out that there’s a way to get lots of money here! These monsters drop devilry drinkers, plus you can steal some, right? They sell for, what, thirty thousand gold each? And if every one of them has one … “ he trails off, sweeping a hand across the landscape teeming with hula-hooping demon things.

“That’s … brilliant,” murmurs Jade, staring at the hoopers with a newfound determination in her eyes. “I’m all in. I can fight.”

“Yeah, I can too,” Erik agrees. “All I have to do is steal from them, right?”

“Me too! Please?” Mia turns her best begging eyes on El. “I need some practice fighting, and don’t the Academie uniforms give a higher chance of treasure drops?” She rummages through her bag, pulling out her navy blue dress and red tie before El can even answer.

Veronica nestles the little blue hat in between her braids, messing up her bangs in her rush. “In that case, I can join in. I can give you advice on your fire spells.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to fight? I can Quadraslash them - “

From somewhere within the dress covering her head, Veronica snorts.

“I’ll take that as a no,” El mumbles, offering Jade another neatly folded blue dress from his bag.

“I can stay close by to heal after battles if anyone gets injured,” offers Serena, glancing worriedly at Mia and her claws before guiltily averting her eyes. Erik can’t tell if she’s worried about Mia getting hurt or if she’s worried about Mia getting beguiled and hurting them. Honestly, he’s worried about both, but she’s her own person, and it’s not his place to stop her. At her age, he was stealing cargo off of ships for a living, so he’s not exactly in a position to judge.

“And I suppose we’re just supposed to sit here?” Jasper stares at his nails disinterestedly, flicking some dirt out from underneath one of them.

“Yes,” El says bluntly. “Unless you know how to steal, or you’re willing to wear one of the school uniforms.”

“Do not let me do either of those,” he mutters. “No matter what I might say later.”

“Are you implying that you’d offer to crossdress?” Sylv asks offhandedly, as if that’s a perfectly normal conversation topic for them. Actually, considering their circus career, it might be, but Jasper is the exact opposite of most circus performers. Erik still wonders how Hendrik and Jasper became .. whatever they are. Jasper’s the kind of guy who’d sooner throw himself off of Cobblestone Tor than join a circus, whereas Hendrik … well, when Sylv asks, Hendrik complies all too easily.

Nobody acknowledges Sylv’s comment with a response, but that’s probably a win in their book.

Jasper stares down Sylv like a sabrecat would to one who had just messed with its cubs. In a way, Erik supposes, Jasper’s pride is his firstborn. He most certainly treats it as such.

“Am I interrupting something?” Hendrik asks coldly, placing one hand on Jasper’s shoulder, and only then does the latter break the invisible but strangely tangible gaze locked on the jester.

Jasper smirks. “That’s not something you say. Dear, dear. Are you picking up my phrases?”

“Perhaps.”

Erik tries to fight the snickers, he really does, but it was always a losing battle.

“What are you on about?” snaps Jasper.

“I mean, you say ‘accept your fate’ and stuff like that,” he points out, raising a single eyebrow at Jasper. “That’s a Hendrik-ism, right? You’re such a hypocrite.”

“Touche,” the knight mumbles, sweeping his bangs out of his eyes and ducking his head in an attempt to hide the slight hint of color on his cheeks. The effort’s lost on Erik, though, because not only does he have sharp observational skills, he’s also always looking for a way to humiliate Jasper. Always. Constantly. He thought maybe he’d stop that once he got used to Jasper being around, but apparently that only heightens the instinct.

Sylv notices too, of course, because they are on the lookout too, but … not for the same reason that Erik is. At least, he thinks not. “Alright, let’s go!” they sing, taking one arm of each of the pair of knights and dragging them around one of the many bends, where they vanish. Rab’s presumably over there too. Hopefully the three of them don’t walk in on him with his precious digest.

Erik really shouldn’t have a soft spot for the perverted old man, but he  _ is _ kind of his grandfather. Besides, it’s not like he hasn’t possessed a few dirty magazines himself, although admittedly most of them weren’t his for long.

“What are you  _ doing _ ?” El close to screeches as Erik starts to strip off his corsair coat and unbutton the new silk shirt Gemma had made for him underneath.

“What?” Erik asks in what he hopes is an innocent tone. “Not like you haven’t seen - “

“ _ Erik! _ ” he whines, burying his face in his hands. “You can’t just - do that - in front of other people.”

“Why not? We’re not secret about it or anything. They all know.”

“You’re married,” adds Jade from about twenty feet away, where she, too, is changing, but she’s putting on her Academie uniform, which isn’t hard to switch into without revealing too much. Serena’s being a shield for her, even though it’s not necessary.

“Yeah. What she said.” Erik offers a grin that he’s probably completely failed to suppress the wolfishness in. “You’re not exactly handing me any clothes, either.”

El busies himself looking through his bag, clearly putting in a major effort not to start staring at Erik in front of their friends (and their sisters too, Erik reminds himself). El chucks the cape of his swindler’s outfit over his face, and Erik gives a somewhat muffled protest before the breastplate follows and he shuts up.

***

The shield-stealing spree is going well. They’ve got so many that Erik can’t even hold them all and has to hand off some of them to El as they’re fighting.

“What’re you gonna do with all this money?” asks Mia, absentmindedly toying with one of the little charms on her beguilement-protection bracelet made out of some of their earrings.

“Last time I was at Derk’s shop I saw he had something called pep pop. It’s really expensive, but … well, I thought it might be useful when we fight Calasmos … “ El’s eyes flicker to her for a brief second before going right back to the ground.

“Ah, ye’re back! I was startin’ to get a wee bit worried. We dinnae want you getting too off task, if ye know what I mean.” Rab raises his eyebrows. Little does he know how much he’s testing Erik’s boundaries with that look alone.

Hendrik clears his throat. “Not all of us shared that sentiment.”

“And why would that be, Hendrik? Getting a little off task yourself?” asks Jade in her most lighthearted tone.

“Princess, I- I am not sure how to respond to that.”

“Don’t worry about it. Silence is plenty,” she purrs, forcibly reminding Erik of the sabrecats in northern Dundrasil that mauled him just before she herself did in Octagonia.

“While I do so love your implications, Jade, now is not the time. Some of us have places to be, and things to do, that I daresay are more important than your childish ideas about our relationship status.” Jasper shoots her a scathing look, but somehow Jade is completely unaffected. Her mouth even quirks up on one side in amusement.

“Save this discussion for a later date, then?”

“Rest assured, if there is ever an update, you will be the first to know,” says Jasper dryly.

Jade laughs, but she drops it, following the rest of them over towards the spot where El can play the flute and call Cetacea. For some reason Veronica hasn’t been given that duty, despite her clear talent at flute playing.

The notes start to echo, but just as El finishes the short tune, the stone beneath them shimmers, and El reaches down to touch it.

A mistake.

Everything fades to white around them, and even the ground feels different, more soft, almost like they’re standing on clouds. Is he passing out? No, he’s breathing, and everything is fine, and - oh, everyone else is here too, so either he’s fine or he’s having major hallucinations and is finally going to face the fate he knows he deserves.

“Am I … dreaming … ?” Serena mumbles, staring around in bewilderment.

“Nope.” Mia kicks at the floor, trying to raise some dust, but nothing happens. There isn’t even really a floor, there’s just … a spot where the endless whiteness fades into more whiteness.

Veronica’s eyes don’t leave the edge of the world, the horizon that probably exists. It has to exist. There’s no such thing as eternal whiteness, right? Right? “Are we in the void again?”

“No … isn’t the void kinda purple?” asks Erik, even though he himself is just as unsure. “Doesn’t that need a trigger point?”

“Ah, my young friend, that is where you are wrong.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> believe it or not there is actually only one more chapter!!! wow!!!
> 
> see you next week my loves. until then,


	8. On The Horizon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the author dumps a fuckton of content in one smol chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow. I cannot believe it. it is the final chapter of this fucker. I'm so so proud of this whole thing.
> 
> this chapter unofficially dedicated to my karaoke partner from my school, who somehow managed to make our Discord Duets TM into something wholesome.
> 
> enjoy!!! Morcant content, Jasper content, and Luminerik content in one chapter? yes

Erik whirls around, and amidst the blinding emptiness stands the Seer. He smiles slightly and shakes his head to loosen his hair, which curls in on itself at the bottom edge because it’s just a little bit too long. He taps his staff against the thing that Erik isn’t quite willing to call the floor.

“It is Drustan’s void of which you speak. Mine is, shall we say, a bit different.”

Erik openly gapes at him. He’s far too familiar. “You can’t be serious.”

The Seer’s smile only grows softer. “I am perfectly serious, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell the others what you know right away. Best not to overwhelm them, don’t you agree? I’m sure you’re all wondering why I’m here. I believe I have something to show you … something from the distant past … “

“We already know what happened to Serenica. You told us,” says El, like everything is normal, and suddenly Erik gets it.

_ My illusions never did work on you. _

He’s the only one who sees the Seer for what he is. Who he is. All the others see him as something else - maybe that’s why Veronica kept saying he was female.

“There is … a part that I have left out, one which you have a right to know about. One moment, if you will.”

The others fade away from his vision, and they’re replaced by an area of desert that looks a little bit like the celestial sands, by the altar thingy where Erdwin’s Lantern crashed down to the surface. There’s dust everywhere, blowing on a whistling wind that whispers to Erik even though he knows he isn’t really there. The tiny hints of voices send shivers down his spine.

Erdwin stands on top of something that looks pretty damn ugly, his determined look more pronounced than ever. He closes his eyes and raises the Sword of Light above his head, preparing to swing it down on the thing underneath him. The Dark One, maybe.

A flash of familiar boots with curled toes. The quick, fluid motion of a single knife strike made with precision, a strike that Erik has echoed on many an occasion. But it’s Erdwin who takes the blow.

He turns around, and then his eyes meet Morcant’s, and Erik temporarily loses the ability to breathe.

Spitzfire shit, he’s been messing with the Luminary’s murderer.

And if that pattern logically follows … 

He’s next in line to get power-hungry and murder the Luminary.

Fuck.

Erik can barely watch as Morcant steps over his dead partner’s body and absorbs the darkness from the enormous creature on the ground, of which there is an unreasonably large amount. Everything trembles, and the wizard’s figure is blocked out by the sheer volume of dark power making its way to him.

Yeah, this is the Dark One alright.

His voice is familiar too, and Erik’s head spins as he tries to take it in. The only person who’s ever been on his side through it all (besides El), and of course he has to be a force of evil. Just his luck. Maybe  _ he’s _ the one who was cursed.

Morcant is swept away in a veil of more dark magic, and then the dry skies of the celestial sands vanish.

The face of the man he just witnessed murdering his best friend stares back at him, a wry smile crossing his lips. He taps his gnarled wooden staff against the ground again, and for the first time Erik notices that it’s topped off with a red gem, one that he remembers from a certain fight in Heliodor Castle, right before the Lantern fell.

Erik heaves the deepest, most exasperated sigh he has in years.

“That’s terrible,” Sylv murmurs, with a single glance at El’s Mark of Light.

Hendrik stares at his own hands held out in front of him. “Betrayed by the very man he trusted most … “ He shakes his head softly, and suddenly Erik feels a rush of sympathy for him.

Jasper rolls his eyes. “I  _ am _ still here, you know. It is rather sweet that you thought of me as your most trusted companion, I suppose, but that is a low bar … “

“How come you know about all this stuff, anyhow?” Erik hisses through gritted teeth, staring at the Seer - Morcant - like his life depends on it. Not his - like El’s and Mia’s lives depend on it, because honestly, he doesn’t value his own life that much. “Didn’t it all happen centuries ago?”

“I should get on with it, shouldn’t I?” the Seer sighs. “Very well. If you insist.”

His figure fades away until it’s just a bright patch against the endless bright background, and when he emerges again, he looks almost the same, but there is a certain glow that has been removed from the edges of his image. He looks somehow much more real. The others gasp and their eyes go wide, so he’s presumably let down whatever they see and allowed them to see past the barriers he has in place.

“There was a voice, you see,” Morcant begins, his head hung slightly, his gaze dropping to the floor / cloud / whatever it is. “A voice inside my head. As Erdwin raised his sword to smite the Dark One, it spoke to me.  _ Strike him down _ , it said.  _ Kill him, and I will grant you power beyond your wildest dreams _ . I tried to close my heart to those intoxicating words, but before I knew what was happening, my friend lay at my feet.”

“But, uh, how are you here? If you’re Mordegon, how are you still a person … ?” Erik asks, impatiently fidgeting with the holds of his knives.

“You’ve worked that out as well? Excellent. If you’re in such a hurry, we can cut to the chase. Yes, I was Mordegon. Or rather, the darkness in me was Mordegon.”

Jasper stares at him, completely oblivious of everything else, but even after a strangely long pause, he still can’t find the words to express whatever it is that’s on his mind.

“It was I who sent you the necklace. Forgive me,” Morcant says softly. “I knew it was the only way you would leave your sister behind.” He lets a gentle, sad smile cross his lips, and he inclines his head slightly to Mia in a small act of respect.

“Why the  _ fuck _ did you think turning me into gold was a good idea, huh?” spits Mia, pulling out one of her favorite knives on Morcant and holding it to his throat. “Did you know I’d spend five years in a cave as a statue? Five. Fucking. Years.”

“A  _ statue _ ? You turned her into a statue?”

Erik braces himself to get yelled at by Veronica, but instead she turns her rage on the sorcerer standing before them, aiding Mia in her quest and adding in a cage made of fire around him, the flames licking at his clothes.

“You broke apart my life,” Jasper growls, pulling out both of his swords from their sheaths at each hip. “Left everything I’d ever known in smoldering wreckage. I was a fool to ever think you were worthy of my service.” His left-hand sword finds its way to him, backing up Mia’s knife with a single blade pressed against the left side of his neck.

Serena wordlessly takes out her harp and strums a familiar tune that Erik recognizes as one of her wind spells, one of the most powerful ones, and it whips up Veronica's fire so that it brushes against Morcant’s face and singes the edges of his hair. It catches and begins to smolder, but Morcant remains completely calm.

“I must explain further. I am not Mordegon. There was a part of me that fought against the darkness, and that is all that remains of me now.” Morcant sighs, heavy with the weight of his past actions.

Sylv doesn’t add anything, but for once, they don’t stop the attempted murder. Jade scowls, but her boots remain firmly on the ground, and her spear at her back. Rab looks oddly conflicted, and Erik can’t figure out why. Hendrik blinks slowly. Has he really not caught on? Huh.

A slight frown is the only indication of whatever El’s feeling.

“Want to do the honors?” Mia growls, her eyes not leaving the sorcerer’s. She flicks at the hilt of the knife still at her hip, and suddenly Erik knows what she’s really asking, and he shivers.

It’s alright leaving a few nameless Heliodorian guards lying dead on the floor in their pursuit, but this … 

“Stop,” he breathes, and like magic, everything freezes in place, even the fire climbing up Morcant’s blue hair.

“Weren’t you all listening?  _ He isn’t Mordegon! _ How much more fucking clear can I make it?” Erik snarls, and everyone takes a step back, clearly surprised by his outburst. Why are they surprised? He’s never been able to keep himself in check, why should now be any different?

“You are correct in that regard. But while your kindness is appreciated, I will die soon regardless. Mordegon is no more, and so I too must fade. I’ve evaded fate for too long … you did well to find Serenica, and I have faith in you … faith that I never had in myself … “ Morcant’s voice becomes a whisper at the end, and Erik gets the impression that the last part is meant only for him.

Morcant starts to shimmer, and the tips of his shoes are already vanishing.

“Don’t just  _ leave _ ! Please,” Erik begs, and why is he doing that, it makes no sense, but the Seer can’t do that, they have to stick around just a little longer, keep him on the right track, make sure he doesn’t mess up again -

“I never did get a reincarnation. I suppose I was still alive, in a sense, as Mordegon, while the others were all physically gone. Although I did wonder if it was you,” murmurs Morcant, his tones wavering and sounding fainter with every word.

Erik desperately takes hold of one of his hands. “Hey, stop, you don’t have to - “

“No. I do have to. When I met you, you saw me as myself. You know, I wondered about that for the longest time … for the only person who was ever able to see through my disguises was Erdwin himself.” The sorcerer offers nothing but a weak smile as his face begins to fade into the white void of the background. He begins to bend at the waist in a bow, but he vanishes before he can finish.

“Fuck,” Erik grumbles. “There he goes … “

“I do not completely understand. Were you and he … acquainted?” asks Hendrik in the most strained manner that he’s ever seen.

Erik shrugs. “You could say that. He’s the one who told me to steal the Red Orb. Got me thrown into jail, but I guess that was a good thing in the end. Cursed away my memories, too. Uh, it’s kind of a complicated relationship.” He grins at El, expecting him to offer one of his own in return, but what he gets is a sharp slap of reality.

“Cursed away your memories?”

Veronica lets loose a long string of interconnected curses under her breath.

“Shit. I never said anything.”

“ _ No _ ,” El snaps, and everyone stills in their motions. “I want to know. I’m ready to know. Please … I just want to know what you’ve all been through. And I hate it when you keep secrets.”

All it takes is one glance of those soft eyes, and Erik falls apart at the seams.

“Yeah. I’m sorry, I guess I just wanted to protect you … but you’re right,” Erik says. El reaches out for his hands, and he gives them up easily. Mia reluctantly sheathes the knife she’d had to Morcant’s throat just minutes before, and Jasper returns his sword as well.

“Hey! You can’t tell the story  _ alone _ ,” Veronica protests. “I’ll fill in a few of the important bits.”

Serena beams in spite of their very odd situation, tucking her harp back into her bag. “Yes, and I can help as well.”

“Uh-uh! You three don’t get to have all the fun, darlings!”

“It isnae a complete tale without a healthy dose of Grand Master Pang and her Naughty Stick, eh?”

“I do play a rather important role in … certain areas, I suppose. No matter how much I despise that bunny outfit.”

Hendrik clears his throat awkwardly. “There are a few details that only I can recount.”

“You’re wrong there,” Jasper interrupts. “I recall everything that I was involved in. And I was, shall we say,  _ very _ involved in the parts you speak of.”

“I guess I do have a  _ few _ things I could talk about … like Jasper’s palace! Ooh, and mine! Yeah, I’ll help too,” Mia declares. “We all have stuff to say, right? Why don’t we all do it?”

Despite the daunting prospect of admitting their failures, Erik smiles.

“To Cobblestone?” asks El, and all but one of them nod in agreement as he starts to summon the blue light that can whisk them away.

“I loathe you all,” mutters Jasper, but he doesn’t protest further.

***

The party settle themselves in the field at the base of the Tor. There’s a few flowers blooming in the midst of the grass, little specks of color that break the monotony. El picks a single purple flower and silently lays it along the wooden boards of the dock. Without asking, Erik knows it’s for Chalky, even though his grave is off to the left. This is the last place El saw him, but not the last place Chalky saw El. Goddess, time travel is weird.

“Shall I start, then?” Veronica straightens up, sitting tall as she can, which is surprisingly tall considering her starting height. “On the morning we went to Yggdrasil?”

“If you think you’re telling this part alone, you’re sorely mistaken.” Jasper toys with the ends of his hair, which Erik notices for the first time are starting to split. (He is in his mid-thirties, isn’t he? Is he actually aging? Is he a vampire?)

“It’s okay, you can both tell it from your points of view.” Fingers tangled with Erik’s in the grass, El smiles gently at them both. “It’s probably good to have different perspectives.”

Veronica huffs in mock amusement. “Yes, well, ours are about as different as it gets. I can start. Just … give me a minute, please. I need to -” she sniffs, and then she laughs brightly. “Look at me, getting all emotional. Stupid tears. I’m such a bloody idiot.”

There is a moment of silence while she collects herself. Even Jasper stays quiet.

“I’m okay,” says Veronica quietly, brushing away her sister’s gentle hands. Serena withdraws and then hangs her head softly, in mourning for the part of her that she’d thought to be lost. The part that’s now sitting right next to her. The part that all of them would (and had) given up everything for. El had even given up his memories. Ironic that the first time they tell El’s story is to himself. Maybe they could write a book together.

Veronica takes in a deep breath, and then she starts.

“It wasn’t any different when we went up to Yggdrasil, except that we didn’t have the Sword of Shadows, and, well, when Jasper came in with his darkness … “

They spend the entire afternoon recounting their own story to each other.

Veronica admits that they failed, and that she died to save them. Jasper talks about the Spectral Sentinels and how he gathered them. Together, he and Mia describe the opulence that they lived in along the way. Hendrik tells everyone about the Last Bastion and the journey to Heliodor Castle (Erik snorts at the part about climbing backwards through the sewers), and he and Jasper have a debate about what happened at the battle (it’s worked out that there aren’t any dramatic confessions, thanks, Jade).

Rab and his training in the void, Sylv and their Soldiers of Smile and the first reunion with their father, Jade and her monster form … and then everyone goes quiet and stares at Erik.

He hesitates, but El motions for him to continue, so he does.

“I lost my memory, but somehow I still found my way onto the Salty Stallion. And when you found me … I didn’t know you.”

Mia picks up where he can’t, and by the time she finishes, they’re both crying hot, angry tears, Mia into Serena’s orange shawl, and Erik into El’s shoulder.

“It’s not your fault,” El whispers to him, ruffling his hair affectionately.

Erik grins, despite the shimmer in his eyes. “You’ve already told me that. And - I’ve told you that too.”

“It still applies.”

Serena continues with her part of the story, and of how they found about Veronica’s sacrifice, and she also takes the portion where they first found Cetacea and visited the Watchers, and how they forged their own Sword of Light.

Jasper and Hendrik have another strangely entertaining back-and-forth about the Fortress of Fear. Everyone pitches in along the way with that one. Mostly Jade offering  _ very _ helpful ideas about their reunion, which neither of them confirm, but don't deny either.

By the time Serena finally reaches their decision to travel back in time, the sun is already setting behind the hills around them, and the river is stained with various hues of orange and red and pink and yellow, like it’s on fire.

Mia crafts a miniature model of her golden castle out of her blue fire to ‘improve her detail work’ in Jasper’s words. Despite the memories of the place, everyone ends up laughing as she recalls its build. In the throne room, she adds a miniature version of herself, and a tiny Erik, captured in the moment that he saved her from the swirling inferno of darkness and began to turn to gold.

Once she’s finished, she lets it sit for a moment, and they admire her work before she lets it go, and it all collapses into nothingness, a faint memory and a patch of burnt grass. That’s okay, though, she can make them a new one whenever.

“Amber’s got some lovely dinner preparin’ for you all, if you’d like to stay the evenin’,” calls Gemma from the town gates. “‘Aven’t we got some weddin’ preparations to make too? I drew a couple new sketches, if y’ want t’see.”

Serena claps her hands in delight, rushing over to Gemma’s side. “Ooh, I’m sure they’re wonderful! I’m sure I’d love to see them.”

“Look, I’m only doing this so I know they’re putting you two in something reasonable,” Mia mutters covertly, following the blondes, the pair already chatting like old friends.

Eventually, everyone else filters out to look around the town, but El stays by the pier, so Erik stays too.

“Remember the first time we were here?” asks El, softly squeezing Erik’s hand, still in his.

“How could I forget? You didn’t smile for a week.”

“I thought my world was turned upside down then. I was pretty wrong, I guess … I didn’t exactly take time travel and memory loss into account.”

“Neither did I,” Erik admits. “But for me it was more about the whole falling in love with the Luminary thing. Didn’t think I was the type. But I kinda did, so yeah.”

El inhales sharply.

“What? Something wrong?”

“Um. No. It’s just … you said you love me.” El’s face burns, and he bites his lip shyly, letting his hair fall into his eyes.

“Yeah. I love you. Why?”

“I love you too,” El whispers, and pulls Erik into his arms. “Thank you. I know it had to be hard, but I’m just glad that you did. No more secrets, right?”

“No more secrets,” agrees Erik, tapping his fist against El’s.

“In that case.” El starts to rummage through his bag, rifling through a bunch of papers. “When were you planning to tell me about this, huh? Or is this not a secret?” He pulls out a copy of a magazine, one that Erik recognizes … and sure enough, El flips to a page where a piece of paper falls out, and Erik’s own face, a few years younger, looks back at him.

Erik smirks. “It was just to spite Hendrik, y’know, ‘cause he couldn’t catch me, and I heard he reads those. The real question is, why’d you buy that? And why'd you bookmark me? Am I really that sexy?”

“Alright, let’s move along,” El says hurriedly, tucking the magazine back into his bag in a rush, so that the cover page bends backward slightly.

“You don’t have to do that anymore. You’ve got the real thing.”

“I think I’ll be taking advantage of that,” El murmurs, and Erik watches as El’s eyes greedily run over his every curve. Shit, he’ll never get used to  _ that. _

Not that he’s complaining.

“I love you,” El breathes against his lips, their foreheads brushing.

Erik grins. “I love you too, dumbass. You better believe I’m sticking around.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... and with that, I conclude this monster. wonderful!
> 
> a lot of people end their act 3 fics with the defeat of Calasmos, but I didn't, because in game there isn't a clear ending point. things just ... slowly become better, and eventually they're good enough to be satisfied. that's where I've chosen to end this.
> 
> terrible ending lines feat. the magazine are the fault of Fav ok don't blame me
> 
> to everyone who has commented / kudosed / read, I love you so much! y'all are one of the only reasons I haven't fallen into the swirling void of depression recently!!! many thanks!!!
> 
> please drop me some love if you enjoyed, it would mean the world to me


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